Jasper's Vote
by rainbowweekend
Summary: After the Cullens vote on Bella's change, she has a vivid dream about Jasper. But what happens when what started out as a not-so-innocent dream sees Bella falling for a different vampire, changing everything? Jasper/Bella, set post New Moon. Lemons.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer****-****I own nothing! Except two newly acquired Easter eggs. Happy Easter everyone!**_

_**Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence.**_

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**Big thanks to mynxi for being the world's greatest Beta and taking me in when I fell on her proverbial doorstep, needing help. You're amazing!**

**Thanks also to those-nights-kept-me-alive for being a wonderful human being and for pre-reading.**

**And finally, gracias to bloodofbeckie for being a source of humor in my tedious life and for Beta-ing.  
**

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_"Get me out of my mind, get you out of those clothes"  
_

_**- Fall Out Boy, Thanks for the Memories  
**_

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**EXTRACT FROM PAGE 547 OF CHAPTER 24/ NEW MOON**

**"He got up slowly, and came to put his hands on either side of my face as he stared into my eyes. "Forever" he vowed, still a little staggered.**

**That's all I'm asking for," I said, and stretched up on my toes so that I could press my lips to his.**

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**Bella's POV**

"I'm just going to go back to the house, Bella and get changed whilst you have your shower," he murmured, backing out of the kiss before it could get too heated. Careful, he was always too careful. I was about to grumble but his lips spread into that crooked smile I loved so much and he whispered, "You won't even have time to miss me." Before I could sigh or grumble, he had slid open the window and was out of sight.

I sighed as I walked to the bathroom, entirely sick of being rejected. I'd thought once we were back from Volterra, after we'd come so close to losing each other, he'd want to show much how much he'd missed me. I wanted more than chaste kisses and holding hands with him; I wanted him to love me and to show me love.

His flippant rejection once again instilled in me a sense that we were right back to affection in the form of a quick peck on the lips here and there and whispered vows of love.

Something inside me began to hurt as I handed myself the punch line, "How could he want me when he so easily rejects me?"

I quickly shrugged the thought off my shoulders. Hell, we'd just come back from saving him from trying to kill himself because he thought I was dead. Of course he wanted me! I've already had this epiphany. I just had to wait a while.

I clambered into the shower and immersed myself in the billowing steam and the running water. I let my mind wander running through the events at the big white house not more than an hour ago in dawn's early light. Only one particular vote shocked me. I had counted on Emmett and Alice's votes, the brother and sister I never had and of course, Carlisle and Esme, the ideal parental unit in perfect synchronisation, caring infinitely for their would-be children. Hell, I even counted on Rosalie's "no" vote, in a way. But not Jasper's.

Although I had forgiven him for my birthday party events, I wasn't sure he'd forgiven me.

Me, who had run his family from their home, sent Edward away from their family temporarily and then put his beloved Alice and his brother's lives in danger because I wanted an adrenaline rush. Me who just waltzed back into their lives and expected them to take me in.

We barely knew each other, since he was always merely shadowing Alice, always on the edge of proceedings when I was there. It would've seemed entirely natural for him to say no and make up an excuse.

But he hadn't reacted in the way I'd expected him to and despite that all the facts pointed to a "no", he had said "yes" and even though his voice had been grave, his golden eyes had been kind and warm. In that moment, I felt I'd known him much longer and much more than just the few polite comments exchanged either side of Alice's tiny shoulder.

Now that I thought about it, the only private conversation Jasper and I had ever had was a year ago in the entry way of the Cullen house in which he had told me I was worth it, worth the risk of their family fighting two nomadic, almost feral, human-drinking vampires.

An emotion settled in my stomach, somewhere between affection and appreciation and I quickly pushed it away. It was nothing to dwell on. There were seven Cullens, all of them strong and seasoned fighters, it should've been easy to take out the two nomads- if my bad luck and stupidity hadn't gotten in the way.

The thought was replaced with something else, a distant memory just as far back in a seedy dark Phoenix hotel room, Alice by his side and his words played in my head again- "our only fear is losing you" (_Twilight, page 358)_.

At that moment, I resolved that maybe his vote was something that I should have and could have counted on.

After drying myself off and putting on my tatty pyjamas, I finally settled down into bed, daylight pouring through my window, daring me to sleep through the hazy, gloomy light.

Due to the exhaustion of racing through Italy in Alice's stolen yellow Porsche, facing an Italian royal family intent on murdering or collecting us and then facing my future family, I fell asleep. I found myself drifting off, slipping under the soft waves of a dream.

_***_  
_  
In the back of my mind, I knew I was dreaming because of three particular reasons._

_The first was the sun -in itself, such a rare occurrence in Forks, Washington that it is practically a miracle when it does happen- was pouring in through a wall made of glass. I was definitely not in my cluttered bedroom anymore._

_The second was that the sunlight itself was dancing on my skin with such perfect clarity, reflecting diamonds off the pale alabaster. I had only seen this before on Edward's skin when it was laid bare to the sun's rays which could mean only one thing. I was a vampire._

_The sensible reality that seems so often to evade the unconscious mind tried to drag itself to the forefront of my mind to remind myself that this was not real, because I COULDN'T be a vampire. It wasn't possible. I tried to no avail to remember my transformation, to remember when Edward gave in to my request. It was like trying to drag my tired body through mud. So I gave up questioning and gazed in wonderment at my shimmering skin._

_The third reason was that I was lying on a bed with a man that was not Edward. The man himself was the very man I had been musing about in the shower._

_As I stared at him, I noticed that he was holding me and I was snuggled into his sculpted shoulder. I could hear a purring emitting from him and his eyelids were closed, his face the perfect picture of beautiful serenity as his strong muscular arms wrapped themselves around me. They too were shimmering in the sun._

_Whether it was the dream or the sudden apparent closeness, I suddenly realised how very beautiful Jasper was. On that first day in the cafeteria, I had been so captivated by Edward; I'd never truly paid any attention to his brothers. Right now, in this moment, I_

_sawhow wrong my assessment of Edward's beauty was, in comparison to the tall, gorgeous man here before me now._

_His honey blond hair framed his sculpted high cheekbones and his strong jaw. His arms were taut and muscular. I'd never noticed how long his eyelashes were or how his collarbone gave way to a well-toned chest and strong abs._

_It was in that moment, I realised he was shirtless._

_My mind tried to get through the muddy haze to tell me that this was wrong, impossible even. Where were Alice and Edward? And more importantly, why wasn't I fighting to escape the iron-strong arms that were wrapped around me? Why did I like how strong they were around my frame?_

_As he opened his eyes slowly, all coherent thoughts seemed to wash right under the mud again and the gold of his eyes, bore into mine stirring a ferocity and passion inside me so strong, I found that I could not have cared less where Edward was._

_I had described him as leonine when I was first introduced to him and so he was._

_He was every inch that very leonine warrior as he raised himself onto powerful forearms, hovering above me on the bed as he looked down, his eyes set me aflame in their devastating glare._

_When I looked down again, I was naked._

_"How odd," a tiny voice in the back of my mind commented, "I could've sworn I was dressed a minute ago."_

_I gasped in horror as I realised, and tried desperately to scramble my limbs into hiding the more private areas of my body from Jasper's vision._

_He suddenly growled with those primal eyes still glaring at me, challenging me, he grasped my arms with his big hands and pinned them either side of my head._

_"No," he said, teeth clenched, his eyes daring, "I want to see you, Bella. I want to see all of you."_

_He trailed his fingertips down my arm, causing me to shudder, either from the cool of his skin or the fire left by his touch. As he reached my shoulder-still continuing south- his eyes softened, asking permission. I nodded, not quite remembering how wrong this was. I felt his fingertip brush my nipple, causing it to harden and I shivered, feeling a tingle between my thighs._

_Slowly, he lowered himself to me and he kissed me softly. Our lips whispered against each other and his hair tickled my cheeks. As his sweet honey breath washed over me, I felt myself sigh in contentment, my conscious mind screaming at me to stop fooling around with my boyfriend- no, my fiancé's- brother but I ignored sense and continued._

_I had never kissed anyone like this before. It was sweet yet building, slow building like the ache developing between my thighs as the denim of his jeans grazed and scratched at my hips. The sensation of our tongues dancing together was totally new to me and totally beautiful. I wondered vaguely why Edward had said I was not strong enough for this. Yet here I was, lying underneath his brother, strong enough to kiss and love like lovers should._

_"Make love to me, Jasper," I whispered firmly, despite the screaming in the back of my mind that this was wrong, that I belonged to Edward but my mind was on auto-pilot and I so wanted to just go along for the ride._

_I so wanted _him_._

_His ochre eyes did not widen as he captured my gaze as I thought they would. Instead, they flashed with mischief and his full perfect lips twisted up at the corner into a knowing grin as if this was not something new to us._

_His gaze held me, daring me to continue and challenging me to take this further, I shocked myself as a sense of confidence filled me and I met his challenge, reaching for the crotch of his jeans and demanding quietly but firmly, "off"._

_As so often in dreams, when I looked down they were gone and all I could see was his dick, at attention. I'd only ever seen one of those before from pictures in Health class and this one was a lot bigger._

_I gasped as the ache between my legs burned at me, begging for it, but I had a problem._

_"Jasper, I-"_

_"Shh, calm down, sugar. We've been here before. That tight little pussy fits me just fine," he drawled, but I wasn't so sure. The very size of him was huge._

_I caught his eyes and the passion inside them, the adoration filled me with something resembling a memory. And I did trust him. Somehow, in my mind, I knew this would work. It was like we'd done it before._

_His cock brushed my entrance and I shivered, the ache and moisture between my thighs causing me to try desperately to squirm onto his dick. I tried to move my hand to feel him but I was met with Jasper's hand pinning me back down to the bed. "No, baby. You don't get to touch. You just get to feel."_

_I trembled as his big hands grasped my hips and in a swift blindingly fast movement, he had sheathed himself inside me to the hilt, causing me to moan his name and drag my fingernails down his back, all previous fears and concerns forgotten._

_He withdrew from me steadily, re-entering just as slowly, painfully slow. I wanted more, I needed more. I bucked my hips against him, feeling him deeper inside me._

_"More," I groaned and as I opened my eyes, it was like he was catching fire, as if the fire from his eyes was spreading to his muscles, and his movements sped up, thrusting into me faster and faster. He growled inhumanely, peppering my body with kisses, one hand ghosting up my body to clutch at my breast as he fucked me._

_I wrapped my legs around his back instinctively, drawing him closer, further inside, the sensations inside my body causing me to reach back for the headboard and shatter it within my hands, trembling as Jasper projected all his lust onto me, his teeth bared in desire._

_His other hand knotted in my hair, pulling my mouth to his as he kissed me roughly, no longer dancing his tongue with mine- he dominated. He wasn't careful with me but he never once hurt me. All I could feel was an insatiable pleasure, a need to be satisfied. It was not enough as he pounded me, the tingling in my clit the most teasing pleasure I'd ever felt._

_"Oh!" I moaned as he slammed into me and I snaked my hand between us, ignoring his earlier instruction, to massage my clit, feeling my climax on its way._

_"You do not cum until I tell you to, Bella. You got that? Do not come until I tell you to," he commanded, authority ringing in his tone as he thrust into me and I felt my orgasm coming so close._

_"Please, Jasper!" I begged, rubbing my clit furiously, feeling his cock pounding my pussy._

_"No," he snarled, nipping at my neck, licking from my shoulder to my earlobe, his cold breath edging me closer towards the brink as it tickled the hairs on the back of my neck._

_"Please," I pleaded, so desperate in my need for him, my need to let it go and I grasped at his hair, pulling at the honey blond in my hands, moaning._

_"Now! Cum now, Bella!" he roared and he slammed into me one last time, shooting his cold seed inside me and we fell off the edge into bliss together, my orgasm earth-shattering as the waves of pleasure drowned me. I couldn't see or feel anything that wasn't Jasper or pleasure. And so the two rolled into one. Jasper. Pleasure. Bella. Jasper. Pleasure. Jasper. Bella. He was everything._

_Jasper collapsed on top of me, panting for breaths he didn't need and he gathered me up in his strong arms and kissed my forehead, rolling us to the side, still sheathed deep within me, our pale glittering bodies still tangled into one._

_"I love you, Bella," he vowed, his deep voice clear and full of affection._

_"I love you too," I replied against the cool, hard plains of his chest._

_"Happy Anniversary", his voice whispered and faded out as my dream slipped away and I returned to reality. A reality where things made more sense._

I awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright. I was alone in my room, the light blue walls disorientating momentarily and I realised I was covered in a light sheen of sweat.

My room was empty and silent except for my heavy breathing and shock.

What the hell was _that_? Oh my God!

My heart was pounding and the heat between my legs that I could feel confirmed it. I'd just had a sex dream about Jasper!

_SHIT! I doubt I've ever been happier that Edward can't read my _mind_,_I thought, fear and guilt seeping into everything. How was I meant to look at Jasper now? How was I meant to look at Edward or Alice?

_Calm down, Bells, it's just a dream. We all have stupid dreams. Edward's not even here, it's fine. Just chill out_, I thought, swinging my legs off the bed, to sit on the side with my head in my hands.

Judging from the light outside, it was evening again as the light spilled in from the west filling my room with the yellow shades of the late afternoon.

I decided to take a shower again and as I returned to the small bathroom at the top of the stairs, I wondered vaguely if Charlie was too angry about my running off to Italy to lecture me on using too much water and having too many showers. I went through several responses and arguments but came up with nothing.

I was trying desperately to think of anything but Jasper and how I felt about the dream. After all, how is a person supposed to react to a sex dream about their boyfriend'sbrother? I supposed I should be horrified with myself and disgusted that my brain had downloaded the day's information and spewed out a vivid dream like that. I was disgusted in myself, trying desperately to scrub the deceit and betrayal off my skin when in truth, there was no betrayal. I had done nothing wrong! You can't help your dreams and you can't stop them.

_Why do you feel so guilty then if it doesn't matter? _questioned the same small voice in the back of my mind that had screamed at me during the dream.

I told myself it was because of how much I loved Edward, how it should have been him in that dream and how in my heart, it would be some day. I told myself it was for Alice because I loved her like a sister and only 24 hours ago had I seen her run to Jasper's side and I had watched them exchange such a private look that I had felt guilty watching them.

Deep down inside of me, I knew I was kidding myself, because the problem was, my sex dream of Jasper Whitlock Hale, I had liked it.

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**_A/N: So what did you think? Did you like it or hate it? What do you think should happen or will happen? Review! I'd love to know what you think  
_:)**


	2. Chapter 2

_**DISCLAIMER – ****I own nothing! However, I am in possession of the Friends series box set and I really do love Lisa Kudrow a lot. ****Credit where credit is due to iDreamofEddy for her creation of Peter "I know shit" Whitlock. I don't own him either.**_

_**Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence.**_

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**Once again, thanks to mynxi for her Beta skills and for just generally being made of awesome. She rocks.**

**Also, thanks to bloodofbeckie for being my favourite person in the fandom and for actually being a great friend. And of course for the pre-reads, advice and late night discussions between American and British slang. Darling, you are a fantastic human.**

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"_In my daydreams, in my sleep,  
infatuation turning into disease.  
You could cure me, see all you have to do now  
is please try."_

**- _Spill Canvas, All Over You_**

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**Bella's POV**

A few hours later, I was settled in bed, waiting restlessly for Edward's return. I had spent a very tedious afternoon trying to do Calculus work and letting Charlie lecture me on not disappearing for a couple of days without giving him lots of previous notice. He declared me grounded until further notice and that suited me just fine.

Hey, I had a vampire for a boyfriend who could run over 100mph and read people's thoughts, sneaking out was not a problem. Who needs sleep anyway?

So that would be what I did tonight. I waited for him to steal through my window as he always did so we could go to the Cullens. I had spent too much time away from them and now I wanted to make up that loss.

I tossed and turned, Charlie snored loudly from across the hall. Finally, Edward sneaked in, his bronze hair shining in the moonlight.

"Hello, love," he said, a sweet smile spreading across his face as he took in the sight of me fully dressed lying on my bed.

"Edward, we're going to your house," I stated. Walking towards him, I explained the day's events and he let out a chuckle. Except for the dream. I would never be telling him about _that_.

"I've been hunting all day. Sorry, love. I knew you'd need your sleep," he explained and he kissed my forehead briefly, turned his back to me and said, "So, the plan is to go back to my house? Get on up then."

I climbed onto his back and we set off flying through the forest, the moonlight seeping down through the black blurred trees, peace and cold, clear air filling my lungs, allowing thoughts of the dream to seep back into my mind.

I knew from previous experience how vivid my imagination was. Hell, I spent the past few months having visions of Edward every time I did something reckless. So I knew that I had probably over-exaggerated Jasper's beauty in my mind.

When I saw him, he probably wouldn't appear so perfect, so masculine. When I saw him, everything would be fine and I would know my unconscious mind had been playing tricks on me again. The tight feeling in my stomach that I got from just thinking about him, would disappear and I could go back to knowing that the most perfect thing in the world was the man running, wrapped in my arms now. After all, my mind probably just exaggerated things I'd seen of Edward, like his pale skin and his golden eyes, things all vampires had. It was just my frustration with Edward and confusion about Jasper's vote, in the end, it would all be fine.

As we neared the house, I felt Edward slow down to a quick walking pace and his arms tensed around my legs. He was giving off severe irritation as he said, "Sorry about this, Bella. I didn't know this was going on."

I was about to question him but as we reached the porch, I heard a shout of, "It's beyond my control!" from Alice.

What was going on? Alice _never_shouted. She rarely ever exuded fear, she was always confident, supported by her telling visions of the future, directing her where to go. Who was she arguing with?

As we entered the open plan living room, I saw what was going on. Alice stood with her back to us, a tiny hand covering her eyes, the other clenched at her side. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett stood in line with us, set back but in between the two vampires that were arguing, their faces shifting in different degrees of emotion between worry, concern, and discomfort. Jasper stood opposite Alice on the other side of the room, arms folded, his face set hard, his jaw taut.

As I caught sight of Jasper, all coherent thoughts disappeared. I had been wrong on the way over here and right in my unconscious mind. How odd was it that this mesmerising man had evaded my notice until now? He looked as strong and as warrior-like as he was in my dream, yet his facial expression appeared nothing but calm except for the obvious tightness of his jaw.

His tawny eyes snapped to me and I looked down, realising he could feel everything I felt.

_Crap!_I thought, looking down at my feet embarrassed, feeling the blood flush my cheeks. Thankfully no one appeared to notice as Jasper spoke for the first time since we'd entered the vicinity. None of the others seemed to have registered our entrance. Esme looked absolutely frantic.

"Your visions are _subjective_, Alice. You've said it yourself; the future can change so quickly. This is ridiculous. You're not ending this over some stupid premonition you've had," he said, his voice tired, as if he was repeating his previous points.

"STUPID PREMONITION?" she replied shrilly, her wind-chime voice ringing, "Jasper, if you remember, it was my visions that brought us together. And for your information, I've been having the vision for a year now, but it solidified this afternoon. We can't be together anymore. You knew this all along; we were never mates like the others."

Everyone gasped in shock, me included.

"WHAT?"

"Alice, don't be ridiculous."

"No! That's impossible."

"I think we just all need to calm down."

"I am calm, Carlisle," Jasper replied, although his eyes seemed to bore straight into Alice. Suddenly, his tone got louder and sharper, "Fine, you wanna air our dirty laundry in public, Alice? You tell them how we were never mates, how we've barely touched in the past year! Hell, how we've barely fucking touched in the past TEN YEARS! I'm sick of your bullshit, Alice! You're letting your visions rule everyone in the house. You're not fucking omniscient! You can't see everything! You can't just fuck off to Italy and barely mention it to me because you think you're the only one who can save the situation! Edward's my brother too! Bella's my friend too!"

It was the most I had ever heard him speak and I had never ever heard him say that we were friends and underneath my shock, I felt appreciation and awe. He had confirmed what I had thought previously- I could count on his vote. Everyone stood still, paralysed with shock. Jasper never lost his cool; Jasper was the one who was so calm that he didn't always need to use his gift to reassure others.

His eyes had set alight, just like they did in my dream, but not with passion, with anger.

"How can Bella mean that much to you? It's hasn't been long since you tried to drain her," she said in a small voice that seemed to ooze sarcastic poison.

Her words broke his composed mask and his gorgeous, masculine features twisted into one of pain as he turned to me, pleading, "Bella, I'm so-"

"Don't worry about it, Jasper," I said quickly, with a small shy smile as everyone's faces snapped to mine, their perfect faces still radiating concern. Rosalie looked irritated; though I was sure it was at my involvement. I continued, wanting desperately to make things better between Jasper and Alice and between Jasper and myself but unable to make eye contact with him, "You couldn't help it."

A deafening pause filled the house as Alice stared at her little feet and Jasper continued staring at me.

The moment our eyes locked, I felt an incredible pull in my stomach, urging me to walk up to him and comfort him, to wrap my arms around his tall, powerful frame and to kiss the pain away. It felt like I could feel his pain from a pull in my stomach, his despair and regret for what happened in September and what was happening now. I wanted to help but I was rooted to the spot, Edward next to me, uncharacteristically stunned. The silence dragged on for another moment before Alice's ominously soprano voice broke it.

"Careful, Bella. He looks like he might be getting thirsty. He's probably going to try to drink you again."

Jasper growled and his gaze snapped to her and Alice stepped back, her stance turning defensive, but the attack she feared was not from his direction.

Rosalie's expression was unfathomable as she stepped towards Alice through the silence. It suddenly occurred to me that my previous assumption to what had caused her irritation could have been wrong. Rosalie's pale hand snapped back and then across Alice's dainty face.

"Fuck you!" Rosalie spat, looking like a Greek Fury, beautiful and dangerous in her anger. "You come in here and make snide comments at the man you're supposed to love? Where's this all come from, Mystic Fucking Meg? Because maybe if you worked hard at your relationship, your supposed vision of Jasper spending the rest of his life with another woman won't come true! You're pathetic. Like Jasper says, stop acting like you know everything and stop living in the future. How about living for now, Alice? How about living for love?"

"Alice saw Jasper with someone else?" I asked despite myself, incredulous. I heard the surprise in my tone.

Alice looked at me, something unreadable in her expression.

"Yes, she did, Bella. Alice, why don't you explain to Bella _why _Jasper attacked her seen as you're so knowledgeable. Explain that it wasn't because he doesn't care about her or because he's out of control or even because he's new to being a vegetarian. Go on!" Rosalie urged. I had never seen Alice or Rosalie even exchange a crossed word, nor had I ever noticed the loyalty in Rosalie, behind the tenacity. But she defended her "twin" with such an admirable loyalty that I realised Rosalie was not all cutting insults and toxic glares.

"It was because of his gift," I answered solemnly, piecing Rosalie's words together.

"What?" I heard from Esme, dwarfed between Carlisle and Emmett. I was about to hide behind Edward as I glanced to look apologetically at Rosalie, still intent on getting her to like me but something in her expression made me continue.

"Erm, well, Jasper's an empath, right? He wasn't just dealing with own bloodlust; he had to deal with the bloodlust of six other vampires. He had to feel the way my blood sings to Edward and because Jasper isn't desensitised to it, it drove him crazy," I explained, stumbling over my words in a hurry to get them out.

I caught Jasper's eye again and felt a tug of warmth on the pull in my stomach as Jasper smiled. It was a tiny smile but it was magnificent. Rosalie's face turned back to Alice. "I bet your visions couldn't tell you that, bitch."

"Rose, please don't be angry, I-" Alice started, reaching her hand out towards Rosalie, desperate to make amends.

Rosalie turned and stalked just past Emmett, stopping and turning to watch the proceedings from behind his shoulder.

"You know what, Alice? If you're so sure your vision will come true, have it your way. It's over. I'll move my things into my study. Now you'll have more space to fill up that atrocious closet," Jasper said his voice full of conviction and he turned and blurred up the staircase.

Everyone remained unmoving for a moment until Rosalie walked to sit on the sofa and switched on the television, Emmett following suit, his face troubled, his eyes glancing above him several times, worrying about his brother.

Esme and Carlisle exchanged worried looks too, and began talking too quietly and too quickly to hear.

Edward walked to Alice and picked her up into a hug. He gave her a watery version of that crooked smile and asked her if she wanted to go for a hunt. She obliged and Edward turned to me asking, "You'll be good for a while on your own here, Bella?"

"She will be," Alice said, smiling at me, suddenly making me feel a little annoyed at those stupid visions and her condescending ways. "Charlie's going fishing tomorrow, it's Saturday. He won't be checking up on Bella when he leaves early, he won't want to wake her."

I nodded at them, giving them a forced smile as they turned to leave, leaving me. Esme, upon noticing my obvious discomfort, turned her attention to me, her arms outstretched and I went to give her a hug.

"I am sorry you had to see that, Bella. I do hate it when my children fight," she mused, her beautiful features twisting into the maternal worry I had seen on my mother's face on a rare occasion.

"I feel like it's my fault," I admitted, in a small voice, hoping Rosalie and Emmett wouldn't hear although their supernatural hearing meant they would hear regardless.

"Why ever would that be, dear?"

"Because, I was the one who went cliff diving, and I was the one that Jasper nearly attacked, and now I've caused all this," I admitted, blood rushing to my cheeks in anger, tears welling up in my eyes. I was furious with myself but I couldn't figure out why and the pull in my stomach tugged again.

Carlisle, speaking for the second time since I had arrived was the one to counter my argument. "This is no one's fault, Bella. Don't blame yourself. This is between Alice and Jasper. If things are as they seem, there has been a fissure in their relationship for a quite some time and none of us can help them. It's up to them to choose to repair the relationship or end it. I do think Jasper would appreciate a talk with you now about everything Alice said; I'm sure he feels terrible."

I nodded walking towards the stairs, suddenly feeling nervous at the thought of spending time alone with Jasper. Beneath it all, I still had that overwhelming urge to comfort him and to see that brilliant smile again, but wider and bigger so it would spread to those tawny eyes and light up his face.

_Stop being such a baby_, I told myself as I reached the first floor hallway, making my way to the door of Jasper's study that I had only briefly seen in passing when Edward had given me a tour of his house a year ago.

I paused a moment, inhaling deeply and knocked.

"Come in," his deep voice called, and so I did. Upon entering his study, I noticed how large it was, bookshelves acting as walls, absolutely filled with books. I recognised some titles, but many, I did not. A black wooden desk with a large computing system held the direct attention of the room, sitting proudly in the middle of the room. Just behind it, closer to the glass window wall that looked more like a solid sheet of black in the night was a black coffee table, surrounded by three crimson sofas upon one of which Jasper sat, a book in his hands, looking expectantly at me and he smiled at me again, lighting up the room.

I walked over to him, fidgeting. "Sorry, I'm disturbing you. I just wanted to check that you're okay."

"You're not disturbing me, darlin'. I'm just reading this awful Civil War biography. The amount of false information in here is ridiculous," he said, shaking his honey blond mane in disapproval, patting the space on the sofa next to him.

I smiled and sat down, feeling the pull in my stomach loosen slightly and I felt content.

There was a long pause as I tried to think of something to say. He went first. "Bella, I want to thank you for being the strange, intuitive, forgiving person that you are and for understanding about the dangers of my gift. I want to thank you for coming here after I tried to kill you and for caring about my emotions. I'm always caring for everyone else's feelings and you see past that. It means a lot to me." His words were laced with sincerity and I felt myself blush furiously and I looked down at my hands, clenched together on my lap.

"It's fine, Jasper. I'd say you're only human but that's not quite true," I said, smirking and glancing up at him, seeing a knowing smile play across his full lips, "I know I can trust you and I see how nice you are. You're ones of the good guys."

"I wasn't always, Bella. In fact, there was a time when I reached the very lowest our kind can get. I hurt people. I killed and maimed and coveted. I tortured and stole and made people, innocent people suffer."

I leaned forward, not quite thinking of the meaning of his words, enticed by the way his lips formed and shaped the words, the way his eyes looked slightly and down and to the left from mine as he retreated into his memories, wanting to see if his cool breath really did smell like honey, the way it had in my dream.

"You really are one awfully peculiar human, Bella. I tell you I killed people and you lean_ forward_?" One of his eyebrows was raised up and his tone was layered with incredulity.

"Sorry," I muttered, smiling shyly in response to which he responded with his own little small smile, turned up at one corner, exuding confidence.

"Bella, I want to show you something." He rolled up the sleeve of his black sweatshirt, revealing a well-toned, porcelain forearm. I looked closer, trying to see what he was showing me and noticed half a dozen, if not more crescent shaped scars, identical to the one embedded in my own wrist, decorating Jasper's arm.

"Jasper!" I exclaimed. I reached forward for his arm, trying to get a closer look, seeing more that I hadn't seen before. How many times had Jasper been attacked? How was he still here? Who had done this to him?

"I've seen things, Bella. I've seen awful things," he whispered; his eyes wide as he delved into the past, visualizing his horrors, I presumed.

"Would you like to hear my background, Bella? It's not the same as your Edward's or even Carlisle's. But then, none of our backgrounds are the same, we're all our own individual people with our own individual lives. Life throws stones at us all, the only difference is that some of us get thrown the gold and the jewels and some of us get the rocks and the dirt, the pain and the despair. Of course, all of us in this house suffered the dirt at some point. If we didn't we wouldn't be here, I guess," he said, smiling wryly, the smile not reaching his eyes.

There was a long pause and I looked straight into his eyes defiantly, trying to show that I was not afraid. "Tell me please, Jasper."

He inhaled and then sighed heavily, "I didn't start out in this life quite the same way as the rest of my family," he explained, talking as I began to trace the scars on his arms, the patterns mesmerising.

He leaned his head back, resting against the sofa, watching almost warily as my fingers touched his cool skin.

It was then that he began to tell me everything. He told me about Jasper Whitlock, the youngest Major in the Confederate Army, even with the fact he'd lied about his age. He told me how women swooned at his feet, how with his charisma, he was automatically likeable. He told me of his meeting with Maria and of her companions Nettie and Lucy, who they later killed for fear of competition.

He told me of the creation of a newborn army, describing how young vampires were feral, out of control and how it was his job to control them and how Maria would reward him- a quick fuck with Maria herself. He spoke of the guilt that riddled him and echoed in his bones forever at his involvement in the Southern wars for territory and of being attacked by the same out of control newborns he was forced to train. He spoke of being forced to cull them as they grew older and lost their brute strength.

He described to me how he grew depressed, how he could feel the pain and sorrow and anger he was surrounded by and he was causing, how he felt Maria's fondness fade and of his friends Peter and Charlotte. He described Charlotte as sweet and I laughed at his stories of Peter's gift for "just knowing shit".

His voice grew morose as he told me of meeting Alice at the pit of his depression after he had followed Peter and Charlotte and ran from Maria. He described to me how he knew deep down he was never meant for Alice, how he knew what he felt for her wasn't what he felt from Carlisle and Esme or Rosalie and Emmett. They were companions and best friends but he never felt anything as deep as a mated pair should but they continued to live together out of comfort, in an easy rhythmic pattern.

"I just never thought she'd leave me, I guess," he concluded. He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. I went to pull my hand back but he reached out his own hands and held mine within his own. His hands were big, like I had imagined, encasing and protecting mine in his.

"You're so strong, Jasper. To go through all that and be the person you are today. I mean, you were ruthless and wild. Now, you're different. You're so much happier _not _being Maria's puppet," I whispered, staring at him again, gazing into his golden eyes as if I could see right down to his soul. I had never heard him talk so much and I truly felt close to him now, like I'd known him for a long time. I saw him for what he was - beautiful and I think it was at that point, that the warmth on the pull of my stomach, swelled into meaning something. Something more than an odd attachment to the man before me.

He leaned forward and said, "I don't want to be _that _guy, that monster. I don't want to be dangerous; I just want to be happy and to make the people I care about happy. I am covered in scars, the monster that I once was is tattooed upon me forever. But it is a small price to pay for the second chance I was given. Don't be frightened of me. I know I hurt you and I nearly tore our family apart but know now that I will never hurt you again. I really would love for us to be friends, Bella."

"I would love to be friends too," I agreed, smiling my gratitude. Somehow, something inside me told me the word 'friends' was not quite enough for what I desired but I pushed it away.

Boyfriend's brother, I reminded myself. Yes, but extremely hot Texan brother with a face to die for and eyes you could melt in.

"I'm glad." He grinned, the smile reaching his lips this time. He exhaled, his cool breath on my face and it _was _like honey, honey and summer sunshine.

My dream seemed to have been very accurate up to now.

* * *

**A/N: So it was amazing hearing from all of you last time! I plan to update every 2-4 days** **for now. Tell me what you thought and what you think should happen? Did you like seeing Rosalie fierce as hell? How many of you hate Alice right now? Things seem to be heating up to between Bella and our favourite Major. Tell me what you guys thought! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! I don't even own Jackson Rathbone which saddens me a little._**

**_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

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**Like always, thanks to Mynxi for her Beta skills and for her love of Sexy Jasper who makes an appearance in this chapter.**

**Thanks to bloodofbeckie for not being Jackson Rathbone's girlfriend, for the Beta skills and for teaching me how to say 'literally' in an American accent.  
**

* * *

_"I can't make my own decisions  
or make any with precision.  
Well, maybe you should tie me up,  
so I don't go where you don't want me__."_

**_- Paramore, Playing God_  
**

* * *

**Jasper's POV  
**

We had come downstairs in the night and Bella had fallen asleep only minutes after she had sat down. She had smiled tentatively at Rosalie who inclined her head slightly, nodding back at her.

Bella now lay across one of the three white sofas in the living room, buried under a thick sienna afghan quilt, fast asleep, her face incredibly peaceful, her dreams an interlude to the cyclone of drama in her life. Rosalie kept glancing at Bella's sleeping form. Rosalie's face expressionless but her emotions shifted from the usual dislike of Bella to something slightly more neutral, laced with a bit of interest. Perhaps Bella's show of loyalty towards me earlier had affected her more than she had let on.

That was the thing about Rose. Edward and Alice had always thought her self-absorbed and stubborn, and didn't bother to take interest in her simply because she was not gifted and would not idolize them just because they were. In truth, Rosalie was just incredibly fierce, in every sense of the word. She was a ferocious fighter, loved her family and mate passionately and was strongly set against those she saw as a threat.

Most of all, her loyalty was totally unrivalled by anything I had ever felt in my life. When she slapped Alice, she did not do it selfishly or out of spite but instead did it to protect me, to protect her family.

I settled beside Bella, not bothering to pretend to watch the television, watching as her body rose and fell with each breath, as her long dark eyelashes fluttered.

Emmett and Rose sat on the sofa perpendicular to us, watching the large flat screen television. Emmett had a college football game on that he'd taped earlier, and complete satisfaction radiated through him. As always, Emmett was so easy to please, and he had such innocent, simple emotions.

Rosalie however, was sat with her arms folded against her chest, tucked under Emmett's arm, glancing between the television and Bella, her emotions fluctuating from a growing irritation to indecision. She appeared to be re-assessing her emotions towards Bella as she watched her sleep.

"You okay, Rose?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. Her eyes snapped up to meet mine.

She paused, for a moment, looking at Bella's sleeping form as she gathered her thoughts. . "Yes. I was just thinking. I thought she was Edward's lapdog, so willing to throw away her humanity for him. But she really does care about us; she cares about all of us, not just him. She isn't as weak as I thought she was." Her brow furrowed and her head tilted to one side, her golden eyes glinting in the morning light coming in through the window.

A minute went by and she realized I was still staring dumbly over at her. Knowing I was analysing her emotions, she suddenly grabbed at the remote, effectively snatching it from Emmett's hand. "We're not watching this anymore," she said, her voice hard.

"Hey!" Emmett protested, but one glare from Rosalie had that big bear of a vampire silenced immediately. He sat back and let her switch the television channel to a sitcom.

As the theme music came on, Bella stirred, awoken by the noise. She sat up slowly, blearily rubbing her eyes. She stretched and yawned before asking, "What time is it?"

I smiled warmly at her. "About 9.30. You've been asleep for a long time, sweetheart."

"Where's Edward?" she asked, her voice still tinged with sleep, running her mahogany hair through her fingers.

"He's not home yet." I watched her reaction carefully, tasting her emotions. She bit her bottom lip, stirring something inside me, but I ignored it when I felt her concern.

"Don't worry about it, Bella. He and Alice will be back later in all their condescending glory, ready to read our thoughts and futures and steal our privacy," Emmett half-joked, it frequently felt as if no privacy could ever be had in this house.

"Isn't that annoying? Them constantly reading your thoughts and knowing your decisions and plans?" Bella asked, carefully avoiding Rose, glancing between mine and Emmett's, but it was Rose who answered.

"Of course, but after a while, you get pretty good at hiding your thoughts and making last minute decisions," she said with a wry smile.

"It must be a pain with Jasper making you feel all fuzzy and warm inside when you're pissed too," Bella added, feeling a little more comfortable with Rosalie's direct address to her.

"Yeah and since he's not been getting any these past five years, he projects lust all the time and gives poor Emmett here blue balls," she said, grinning widely now at Bella.

"HEY!" Emmett and I were both shocked and embarrassed at her sudden comment. Emmett looked down at his lap looking like a forlorn puppy but I smiled coyly, avoiding Bella's eye.

I pointed at Rose. "Can it, Soldier."

She grinned and saluted. "Sorry, Major," she stated with a giggle.

Bella giggled too, a happy and contagious sound. I could feel her satisfaction and appreciation at Rosalie's slight acceptance and she seemed quite content.

The TV caught Bella's attention and she exclaimed, "Hey, I love this show! Monica's awesome!"

"She really is, isn't she? She's so passionate and strong," Rosalie agreed, watching the TV now as Emmett looked at her like she was crazy.

"You mean, hysterical?" I supplied, both because I meant it and partially because I was hoping to push Rose and Bella onto a team, to build companionship.

"I know, brother! What you want is someone like Rachel, easygoing, chilled out. She's the kind of girl who'd listen to your opinion and just let you walk around in your boxers without worrying about any ass stains you'd leave on the couch," Emmett ranted as Rosalie looked at him in horror.

"What exactly are you implying, Emmett McCarty Cullen?"

"Nothing, babe." His face was the picture of innocence, a hint of mischief yet slight fear in his emotions.

"You don't sweat anyway, Emmett!" Bella countered. She looked bemused.

"I'm speaking hypothetically, on behalf of humans everywhere," he shrugged until he caught Rosalie's eye and shrank back a little under the weight of her glare.

"What he means is that Rachel would give you the space to make your own decisions," I said firmly, trying to save Emmett's skin from Rosalie's fiery glare. I would not like to be him later.

"You mean she's a _pushover_," Bella said, her eyebrows raised, legs folded under her body, hair flowing down her front. She gave off a confidence and beauty in that moment that I had never seen in her before. Or maybe I'd just never been so close to her before. I'd always known she was a pretty little thing but she always looked more like a girl, not the woman I saw before me now.

"Exactly. Guys are such assholes. Men just aren't smart enough to look after themselves properly but when women try to help you, it's not good enough," Rosalie grumbled, elbowing Emmett in the ribs.

"The guys are only thinking about one thing anyway, Rosalie, and you know how Rachel's described throughout the show," Bella said, conviction in her tone, her confidence was stunning. She was radiant. Watching her and Rosalie's careful sweet conversation as their friendship started to grow was a great thing to behold.

"I bet Monica's an awesome fuck anyway. She's feisty and athletic. What more could you want?" Rosalie asked rhetorically.

Bella blushed and giggled. Rosalie smiled at her too, a shadow of affection ghosting on her emotions.

We chatted for a while on the sofas, the TV soon forgotten in the background as we all listened to Bella's stories of her own past and of her times in Phoenix. I realized that since Edward had deemed us too dangerous to be around her, not only were we not given the chance to get used to her, we were not given the chance to get to know her.

Between the three of us, we'd had several discussions about Bella and her personality. She always seemed so introverted and shy, but yet here she was, opening up to us before our eyes. She told us about how terrible a cook Charlie was when she'd first arrived in Forks and of how much she loved books.

We laughed at stories of silly things her mom had done and listened to her complain about the weather in the Pacific Northwest. She was truly fascinating as her nose crinkled cutely and her eyes wrinkled in disgust while she described the misty rainy fog that so often encompassed the Olympic National Forest.

At the moment, Carlisle came downstairs with Esme following behind him. They stopped at the the doorway and looked in at us. "I'm off to the hospital to start my double shift. I'm sure Edward and Alice will be coming back soon, Bella, to take you home."

Bella looked alarmed. "Can't I stay all day?"

"Of course you can," Carlisle said with a smile before he kissed Esme on the cheek and departed.

"Are you hungry, Bella?" Esme asked with a caring smile, her fondness rolling off her in waves.

"Now that you mention it, I'm starving!" she exclaimed, causing Emmett to laugh again.

"Humans," he said, rolling his eyes.

Esme beckoned Bella towards the kitchen and she stood up and followed. I went in tow, something strange in the pit of my stomach pulling me to be in her vicinity. Bella grinned at me when she saw that I had followed, her happiness filling me up with a warmth I couldn't describe.

What was wrong with me?

_Keep it together, Major_, I thought quickly, remembering my place.

Esme began making some pancakes and instructed me to crack and whisk some eggs and I helped her toss the pancakes.

"Now, I already know Esme can cook, but you?" Bella said to me, her tone dubious.

"Hey! I'm a good Southern gentleman, I should be able to cook up some mighty fine grub for a lady like yourself," I drawled, laying the Southern accent on thick while tossing a pancake in the air and catching it lithely in the pan.

Esme rolled her eyes at me as she took the pan from my hand, serving it up.

"I'm just going upstairs, guys. I'm planning some house renovations near Port Angeles," Esme explained, kissing Bella atop her head and leaving the kitchen.

I watched Bella eat, trying to fathom what she was thinking as curiosity and longing radiated off her. I could feel an ounce of rejection central to it all and I couldn't figure out the reasons for it.

"What's on your mind, Bella?" I asked, leaning forward as she poured syrup on her pancakes, a crease in her brow.

She swallowed before looking at me, almost warily. "You know Rosalie and Emmett?" she whispered quietly. It escaped her notice that they would hear her however quietly she spoke and I silently prayed whatever she was about to say wouldn't tarnish Rose's new perspective of her.

"They're completely in love. Anyone can see that, right? And they're close. They can be close to one another. They're so happy together," she said, forlornly, spearing a piece of pancake and pouting.

I'd like to be able to say that the second I saw Bella I had feelings for her or the second I spoke to her. I'd like to be able to brag about how the first time she looked into my eyes, I fell for her. Or maybe how when I told her my past, my heart suddenly wanted her. But if I was to say those things, I would be lying.

Because the moment I started to develop feelings for Bella Swan was this moment right here, as she sat scowling at her pancakes with bed hair.

"Bella, why does Rosalie and Emmett's relationship make you sad? Why do you feel rejected?" I asked gently.

"Edward never touches me like that. He's all about protecting me, but he never puts his arm around me like that or gets too close. Apparently, it's dangerous." She smiled sadly and her eyes seemed to be filling with moisture.

I took a second to figure out how to handle this situation and decided to go for the truth. "Bella, stand up."

She did as I asked; looking perplexed and I stood less than two feet in front of her. I took a deep breath that I didn't need so as not to frighten her and stepped right up to her body, so that her breasts brushed my chest and her face was inches from mine. Her familiar scent of strawberries and freesias filled my senses, but I could barely feel any bloodlust after spending all this time with her.

Bella, I can tell you that right now, even though I'm technically a new vegetarian and an empath on top of that, right now, I feel no bloodlust," I stated matter-of-factly, trying not to stare too hard.

"Then why can't he get this close?" she asked, her eyelashes fluttering.

I stood there for a minute, just enjoying her proximity, taking in the sheer loveliness of her face, staring into her chocolate eyes before answering. "Because you're his singer, darlin'. It's harder for him than it is for any of us."

I didn't mean to patronize her and she didn't seem to take it that way, so she just sighed as she plopped herself back down on the chair. I went to sit opposite her, across the table, in my original seat and projected calm and trust, waiting for her to talk.

"I just feel so unimportant, you know? And so _breakable. _I mean, I _know _I am compared to you all, but I feel so weak. He's constantly reminding me that he's a vampire and loves me more and I'm sick of him thinking he knows best. Isn't a relationship supposed to involve two people as a _team_? He just wanders off to wherever the hell he was and leaves me because he's decided it's what's best. I feel so delicate and tiny, like I don't matter. He's constantly pulling away from me and hiding information from me because he thinks I can't take it. Well, I _can_. Bella Swan is not as weak as everyone makes out, Jasper. I just wish people would give me the chance to show them that!" she ranted, her voice rising as she went on

"I don't see you as weak, Bella. Look at all the things you've been through. You were attacked by a dangerous nomad, nearly attacked by another one, nearly attacked by a werewolf, nearly attacked by _me _and then you have faced off the Volturi and lived. Maybe you're not as fragile as Edward and you make out. Maybe you're incredibly strong and incredibly brave and you don't see it." I smiled at her and she smiled back, despite herself.

"Everyone's always saving my ass though, Jasper. Especially Edward. When do I get to be the heroine?"

"Have you forgotten what happened in Italy? Y'all could've been killed if not for your quick thinking. Don't let Edward tell you that just because you're human or a little accident-prone that you can't be the heroine," I said.

I'd had no idea how low her self-esteem was until that point and it wasn't like Edward was making it any better. I pushed out some calm and confidence at her, trying to bring her back to the woman on the couch and she grinned at me and suddenly grabbed for my hand, towing me out to the living room to sit on our sofa.

_Our sofa_, I thought vaguely, in awe of her. _My God, I want her._

"Okay, guys, I challenge you to a very serious game of truth or dare," Bella announced, a determined look in her eye.

Three hours later we were gathered in the living room, Bella next to the fire in the same afghan quilt and in Rosalie's swimsuit after being dared to run through the river running behind the house, Emmett in his boxers shorts with makeup covering his face and Rosalie with a grin on her face despite having to eat the remains of my pancake extravaganza. I however had picked truth every time and had managed to evade embarrassment.

We were content and happy, just laughing about all the fun we'd had when I heard two sets of nimble footsteps running through the forest, foreboding trouble.

"Alice and Edward are on their way back," I announced, watching Bella closely.

She went rigid, her wet hair - sustained from a clumsy and slightly ungraceful fall into the river- dripping down her back. She had her head in her hands. "Oh crap, he's gonna kill me."

"Why would he do that?" Rosalie asked, just as Alice and Edward entered the living room from the kitchen.

"We're back," Alice's high pitched voice rang out, ominously cheery as she smiled at all us. Edward went as rigid as his girlfriend was, as he took in the sight of her not six feet away from me, completely drenched.

"What happened?" Edward said sharply, looking from Bella to me to Rosalie and Emmett, the latter who grinned like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Bella hopped to her feet, standing a little to the left and behind my shoulder. Whether she meant to or not, the animalistic side of me purred in appreciation at having her where I needed her to be, if I needed to protect her. "Oh, we just played truth or dare. I ran in a river and fell over. It wasn't pretty." Bella grinned and continued, "I'll tell you what would be pretty though, Emmett in a green dress. It'd match his eyeshadow."

Rosalie giggled and Edward glanced between the two of them, observing the new camaraderie. He obviously decided to ignore it for now and said in the same clipped tone, "Jasper, I think you owe Alice an apology."

I raised my eyebrow but Alice spoke the words, always the mouthpiece. "Edward, that's really not necessary."

"Oh, I think it is, Alice. It's unacceptable to speak like that to your wife."

"She won't _be_my wife for much longer. How about you stay out of my relationship, Edward, and try to focus on your own?" I countered, projecting fear onto him and I watched as he fought it off, cowering away from me. Bella tensed at my side.

"Bella doesn't need protecting from the truth that Alice spoke before. She just needs protecting from you," Edward concluded. I felt the emotions in the room shift to shock at his words, except for Alice, who merely seemed apologetic and concerned.

There was a pause and Edward turned his attention to Bella, beckoning her. "Bella, come over here."

I looked back at her and she was staring at her little bare feet, feeling embarrassed but her voice was strong and clear. "No."

"Bella, come here," he repeated, sounding exasperated.

"No."

"Bella, this is no time to play silly games, come here _now_," he commanded.

Her head snapped up and she glared at him. "I said, 'NO', EDWARD!"

He was taken aback momentarily but soon regained his cool exterior. "Bella, I know you've had fun with them today but it's not safe. Just come with me so we can get you dry. You don't want to get sick."

"Stop trying to control me," she whispered back to her feet, fidgeting with her hands.

There was a pause in the room then, the tension palpable. Everyone's emotions were on edge and Edward was fuming. I mentally prepared myself to either have to calm him down at a moment's notice or to shield Bella but I planned to let this run its course. Bella needed to deal with this and see this for herself.

"_What_did you say?" Edward said quietly, stepping towards us.

I shifted my posture slightly to a defensive pose, as did he. I was ready.

Bella looked up and said more sharply than I had ever heard her talk to anyone, "I said, stop trying to control me."

Edward's teeth bared and he glared at me. "This is _your _fault. Feeding her all those stories about your dirty past, making her feel like she can't trust me. YOU WILL STAY AWAY FROM WHAT IS MINE!"

Frankly, I'd had enough. I turned my head towards Bella and although she smiled slightly at me, I could feel her terror at his words and her fear of him. I would not allow her to feel that. This was not her fault. I would end this now. I stalked forwards towards Edward, projecting terror, pain, and fear into his heart, paralyzing him before he could read my thoughts and make a quick getaway. He stared at me, falling to his knees, utterly overwhelmed.

I lifted him off his feet by his neck with one hand, just above my head as Alice backed towards Bella, who nodded at her, everyone's eyes on me. The muscles in my arm flexed as I held him there, tired of playing his games.

I looked straight into Eddie's little feminine face and ordered, "Don't. Talk. To. Me. Like. That. Pussy. Boy. You don't know who the fuck you're dealing with."

I dropped him into a heap on the floor and he stood up quickly, glaring at me."I just want Bella to be safe," he said too quickly for her human ears, sounding broken. He truly did care for her. The problem was that in doing so, he was suffocating her.

He shot Bella a dejected, wistful look and stormed off out of the back door and sprinted across the lawn.

I hadn't noticed in all of this that Esme had come in and was watching, her face heartbroken as she walked towards Bella and wrapped her in her arms. Bella sighed, looking and feeling troubled.

"Don't worry about him, Bella. Edward is known for his temper tantrums. He'll come around," Alice reassured her, a smile on her tiny face. To my surprise, Bella smiled at her and nodded, patting her arm.

Over Bella's shoulder, Esme mouthed, '_are you okay?' _to me. I nodded with a slight smile, just worried for Bella at this moment.

"How will I get home now?" Bella asked, confused.

"I'll drive you home in half an hour. We can devise some more dares for the boys to do in the car," Rosalie said, her eyes warm.

Bella nodded and everyone except Alice went to settle on the sofas.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Alice asked me, looking pointedly towards the ceiling and then walked toward the stairs. I followed, puzzled. I could feel her radiating concern, anger, and fear still, and I wondered why.

As we entered my study, she rounded on me, looking up at me with knowing glinting in her eyes.

"Jasper, I know how you feel about Bella."

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**A/N: Sexy Jasper is sexy! Did you like Emmett in make up and Jasper teaching Edward a lesson? I truly thought Edward had that coming to him. And if you caught the Friends reference, well done. ;) **


	4. Chapter 4

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! Except for a box of teabags. Tea is awesome._**

**_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

**Thanks to Mynxi for teaching me about Colorado, putting a smile on my face and for being a great Beta.**

**Thanks to bloodofbeckie for further teaching about America, about men and about sentence structure. She's an awesome Beta and a close friend, I love her.**

* * *

_If I could say what I want to say_  
_ I'd say I wanna blow you away,_  
_ be with you every night._  
_ Am I squeezing you too tight_?

_**- Avril Lavigne - Things I'll Never Say**_

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**Bella's POV**

Rosalie drove me home in her red BMV convertible, and I had to admit, it mirrored her personality perfectly- vibrant, stunning and a little intimidating.

The two of us plotted dares and pranks as she navigated the roads of Forks, with ideas ranging from making Jasper wrestle a mountain lion one handed and painting Emmett's Jeep bright pink. We settled into each other's company quickly, but despite the laughter, it still seemed a little shallow, like there were much more pressing and blatant things we needed to discuss.

I would not be the one to bring them up.

She pulled up outside my house and turned off the engine before turning to me and handing me something black and small.

"Here's my old cell phone. All of our numbers are programmed into it and we were able to get you onto our unlimited contract." I tried to protest but she spoke over me.

"Don't argue with me, Bella. You're going to take this whether you want it or not. It's completely ridiculous that an eighteen year old girl would not be in possession of a cell phone," she chided, placing it in my lap before I could push it away.

"Rosalie," I whined, rolling my eyes. "You know how I am about gifts, I hate them. I could buy my own if I needed one."

" Stop talking, Bella. I'm guessing that a certain someone will be trying to keep you away from us now, but we won't have that. Now you don't have to go through Swollen Headward to speak to us, you can do it on your own terms."

"Swollen Headward?" I repeated dumbly, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded gravely, but I could see the humor glinting in her eyes. "Yes. He has a very swollen head due to his massive ego and self-righteousness. And it may have sustained a _tiny _bit of damage when Jasper dropped him." She grinned mischievously and I couldn't help but to smile back, so pleased that we were getting along for once.

An awkward silence came over the two of us as we looked at each other and our smiles faded away until Rosalie spoke. "Bella, it was really nice getting to know you a little better today. All I ever saw of you was Edward's shadow and I don't want you to let yourself be pushed around by him."

I nodded, staring down into my lap, unsure of what to say in response to the sorrow in her voice.

"Bella?" she asked and I looked up at her face, ethereal in its angelic beauty. Her eyes seemed caring for once, and they focused on mine. "Do me a favor, okay? Don't let him push you around."

I nodded once more, too stunned to speak. In just one day, Rosalie had gone from hating my guts to giving me advice and telling me to stick up for myself. I couldn't hold in the questions anymore.

"Rosalie, why do you hate me so much? I don't know what I did wrong."

She smiled with a knowing look in her eye. "I don't hate you, Bella, and I especially don't hate you now. I'm really sorry for how I acted. I just watched you make choices, choices that I wouldn't make and I worry for you. I worry for my family, More specifically, I used to worry about the effect you could have on my family. You had the ability to tear us apart or to expose of us for what we are, whether intentionally or by accident, and I felt that you were a threat."

"Rosalie, I would _never _endanger your family like that. They're my family, too. You all are, and I love you all so much. I just want to spend forever with you all, if you all want me, because this is where I finally feel like I belong. I mean, I know you don't want me, but Alice, Emmett, Carlisle, Esme and Jasper-" _Jasper. Jasper's vote had been a yes, _"they all voted yes..." my voice drifted off and I suddenly felt incredibly awkward, unable to form a thought coherent enough to continue.

Bella, I have absolutely no aversion to you becoming my sister; I just have an aversion to you throwing away your humanity to become like us, to become frozen. Don't you see all the things you'll throw away? All the things you'll lose?" she said, her voice becoming more and more frantic.

"I want Edward."The amount of times that I had said the words had finally made them involuntary, and I gritted my teeth against the sudden throbbing in my stomach, the aching pull of longing for something that I could not place.

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows knitted together as she frowned and turned to look ahead, lost in thought.

"Bella, I think it's time that you hear my story, the story of how I came to be this way. You heard Jasper's last night. He spoke about how 'life throws stones at us all', right?"

I nodded, waiting with bated breath to hear her story, my stomach twisting in knots. This was something I had wanted to know from the very first time I had caught her glares.

"As a human, I was one of the people that life threw rocks at in the form of jewels—of gold, emeralds, and sapphires. I had everything until it was ripped away. I want the chance to tell you _why _I think you should stay human."

As she told me her story, I remained silent, listening to her soft lament for her human life, for her friend Vera and for her beautiful baby, Henry. She told me how jealous she was of Vera for her child and how strange it was to experience such an emotion after having been given _everything _by her family, after having been blessed with such glorious beauty.

She spoke of how much she yearned for a little baby of her own, how she wanted a husband to love her, and how she wished for a family.

The wistful tone in her voice suddenly twisted into one of bitterness, darkness tingeing her voice as she described Royce King and the courtship and engagement she had with him, the rich son of a bank owner. The harshness in her voice contrasted deeply with her words of how she thought it was a fairytale.

She told me of how she had left Vera's, who she had envied so before she had met Royce. She described how on the way home she ran into a drunken Royce on the way home. She spoke of the men leering at her, trapping her, ripping her jacket from her body, tearing her hat off her head, assaulting her before they slammed her on her back into the cobbled street, their monstrous perverted laughter and raucous shouts of joy contrasting with her screams of pain and fear, of her sobs.

"They raped me," she said finally, her melodic voice only slightly louder than a whisper as her golden eyes fixed a point in my backyard through the rain-splattered windshield.

I hadn't realized what had been happening until she said the words, and my eyes filled with tears for her. I could not have imagined anything more terrible, and I wanted to do anything I could to make it better. I reached my arm out to her and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

She remained unmoving, a pale and beautiful statue frozen in time. She finally sank back in the driver's seat with her arms folded across her chest as if they could protect her from the memories. When she finally did speak again, her voice was still the same bitter tone but threaded with satisfaction and complacency.

She told me how she hunted the men, torturing them; saving Royce for last so he'd know she was on her way. She mentioned how her record of tasting human blood was clean and that she had killed these men in cold blood, the only justice she could serve for the loss of her humanity. She explained how she met Emmett and how she loved him, but regretted that they would never sit on a front porch somewhere watching their children play on the lawn.

"I know you're stubborn, Bella, but please think over my words. I don't want you to have to suffer like I do. I want you to make the most of what you have, and what you have is possibilities stretching out to a horizon decades away, even if you can't recognize it now. _Don't _throw it away," she pleaded and she reached out for my hand, squeezing it and smiling, a melancholy look in her eye.

"I'll think about it," I conceded. I knew for a fact that my resolve would not falter but I didn't want to damage this new friendship.

She thanked and looked at the house. "Charlie's coming out, Bella."

"Shit. How do we explain you being here? You're meant to be at Dartmouth! I'm meant to be grounded!" I said, suddenly very worried as I could see him walking towards us.

"I'll handle this." She winked at me and got out of the car to go and greet him. She waved at Charlie, batting her eyelashes and giving him a dazzling smile. "Hello, Sir! I just came to drop Bella off. I'm Rosalie, Carlisle's daughter."

Jesus, she was laying it on thick. I watched as before my eyes he became putty in her hands, just as he had with Alice.

"Hello, Rosalie. It's nice to meet you. Your father is a wonderful man. Aren't you supposed to be at college?" he asked, intuitive as ever. I waited, frozen to see what she would come up with; praying Charlie wouldn't notice my blush. I was _not _a good liar.

"Jasper, Emmett and I are taking the semester off to do some volunteer work in Seattle, so we decided to come home a semester early, seen as everyone else is home now too," she explained, the same stunning smile on her face.

Charlie cleared his throat and straightened up a little, in Chief of Police mode now. "Well, you three be careful out there. Seattle is getting to be pretty dangerous at the moment."

"Oh, Dad. Leave the big cities alone; what did they ever do to you?" I complained, finally stepping out of the car and making my way to Rosalie's side.

"No, Bella, your dad's right," she chided with a mocking look in her eye as she glanced at me. I felt the urge to stick my tongue out at her as she turned back to Charlie. "Of course we'll be careful, sir."

"Please, call me Charlie," he said, smiling, his eyes crinkling around the edges. "Would you like to stay for dinner, Rosalie?"

I sighed internally, fighting to roll my eyes. Funny how he adores Rosalie and Alice yet hates Edward. I wondered dimly what he'd think of Jasper. Jasper was the perfect gentleman and would probably not averse to watching sports on television with Charlie, as I had seen him do several times with Emmett.

"No thank you, Charlie, I've got to get back home. I promised everyone I'd cook tonight," she explained as I stifled a snort. Cooking in the Cullen household did not happen unless I was there.

"That's fine, completely understandable. Come over again soon, Rosalie, and say hello to your father for me."

"I will," she said, leaving with that smile as she walked back towards her ostentatious car, climbing in and rolling the window down, despite the ever present threat of rain.

"Smooth, Rosalie," I said quietly, raising an eyebrow at her.

She laughed, a beautiful bell sound spilling from her throat. "Bella," she said, looking at me with a grin, "The family calls me Rose." With that, she drove off back to the Cullen house.

_The vampires' lair, _I thought wryly, although inside I was overjoyed that she had finally accepted me as part of _her_ family, something I never thought would be quite possible.

I smiled to myself, walking back to where Charlie stood, with his arms folded looking at me sternly. My face fell as I took in his expression. _Uh oh_.

"You're supposed to be grounded, Bella. Grounded does not constitute as going to the Cullen's house. Did we not already discuss this?" he said, frowning at me.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I just found out that Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett were back and I guess I just got really excited," I explained, knowing my excuse would fall on deaf ears. I waited for the onslaught.

"Was Edward with you today?"

"No, Dad. He went hiking with Emmett. I spent some time getting to know Rosalie," this time probably a little more convincing as I was half telling the truth.

Charlie sighed, and motioned for me to follow him into the house. I sat on the couch and he plopped onto his chair. "Bella, you broke my trust. Again."

I blushed and bit my bottom lip, deciding to opt for the truth. "Dad, I'm sorry, truly I am, but I've been such a zombie for the past few months. I guess I really just wanted some time to just _feel_ and to just _enjoy _life."

I wasn't lying. I had missed looking forward to something, laughing and feeling it in my belly, closer to a smile than a tear. Any tear I would have cried this afternoon would have been out of sheer untainted happiness. The afternoon I spent with Jasper, Emmett and Rose could have gone on forever and I would have been happy.

Something in his angry face softened and he looked sad, haunted by the memories of my zombie-state. Maybe it had been a cheap shot but I wasn't lying - it was _so good _to feel alive again.

"Bells, I just wanted you to get some distance from Edward. I just would like you to gain some independence. Frankly, I'm not very good at the whole punishment thing, so maybe we can overlook this grounding if you make me a promise."

"Anything," I said eagerly.

"Promise me if I agree to this ungrounding, you'll try to see other people. Go see Jacob. Or Jessica Stanley. Don't stand in Edward's shadow looking only for him, stand with him so you can look to others too." Charlie was a man of few words so I knew he had worked himself up for this.

And this was not the first time today someone had described me as in Edward's shadow. As I nodded to Charlie and walked to the kitchen to start on dinner, I thought about what the others had said to me. Was I really that far in Edward's shadow? Was I really as flimsy as people stated? Was I truly as timid and hidden as people seemed to think?

The answer must have been yes, or else when Edward left, I would not have been so broken. It was egotistical and self- centred to believe that I _must_love Edward truly more than anyone has ever loved anyone, because how could I know? It had felt like I did, but ever since he had come back, things felt a little like they were changing. Everything I did with Edward felt...forced.

His consistent rejection of me, constantly leaving me heated up and hanging on to him was enough of a sign that I was not in control of this relationship in any way, shape or form.

Relationships fall apart all the time and frequently, one half of a couple was still in love with the other, but they did not go into a catatonic and broken state. They picked up their lives and moved on. They didn't die inside. Sometimes, it may hurt terribly but people have enough self confidence to feel happy in themselves again.

I had been the opposite, so reliant on Edward Cullen. I barely saw my old friends except for when Edward went on hunting trips.

After dinner, I excused myself to have a shower and work on some homework to no avail, still thinking through my relationship with Edward.

It just wasn't normal to be so dependent on him. If he hadn't wanted me, why wasn't I strong enough after a month of being apart, to flip him the bird, say "fuck you" and walk away? Was it because I somehow loved him in such a devastating, heartbreakingly strong way that our hearts could not be separated? Or was it because I was too dependent on him?

No man should be able to demand me to come and stand near him from across a room, a room full of his family and tell me it is for my own safety.

Well, except maybe Charlie when I was a young child and on Christmas, his Uncle George would wander around drunkenly, telling stories of limbless soldiers wandering round the battlefields of World War 2.

Even then, Charlie never shouted at me or spoke down to me. And that was my father. Why should my boyfriend be able to speak to me that way?

As I settled into bed a few hours later, I knew that Edward would be out there; watching my room, protecting me from the terrors of my yellow lace curtains and of Charlie's snores. I snorted at the thought.

In any case, he did not come into my bedroom that night and surprisingly, this did not bother me as much as I thought it would.

I awoke in the morning with a start at the sound of the phone ringing downstairs. I dragged myself out of bed and went to pick it up, pissed off that I'd been woken up, and wondering why Charlie hadn't picked it up. I cursed him in seven different ways before I remembered he'd taken the Sunday shift at work.

"Hello?" I said, my voice scratchy from disuse during the night.

"Bella?" a familiar voice asked.

"Jake? Oh my God, Jake! I'm so sorry! I've been trying to call but your dad said you were out! Please don't be mad at me! Please! Lifetime of servitude up for grabs if you forgive me!"

"Calm down, Bells," he said in his throaty voice, laughing. "Are you busy today? Can I come and see you?"

"Yes!" I shrieked, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Good!" he said, clearly joyous over my positive reaction. "I'll run over if you like."

"Jake, actually, could you bring the Rabbit? I could really do with a drive and a chat," I did not want to be within earshot of any eavesdropping vampires in the vicinity of the house.

"Sure," he said, the shrug evident in his voice.

"See you soon!"

I got dressed quickly, noticing vaguely that I must have left my jacket at the Cullens. I opted for a dark blue sweater and some jeans and went downstairs to wait for Jacob.

He pulled up half an hour later, in his little Red Rabbit, smiling my favorite sunny smile and as I ran out to meet him, he pulled me into a warm hug against his muscle shirt.

"Missed you, Bells."

"Missed you too," I breathed, soaking in his warmth.

We got in the car and he drove north. It was silent for a while, neither of us wanting to speak first about the elephant in the room...or car.

"Bella, I imprinted yesterday," he said simply.

"What?" I asked, not hiding my shock.

"You sound as surprised as I felt," he commented smugly, a smile on his face.

"Who is she? Where's she from? What's she like?"

"She's from Port Angeles. I was out in Seattle yesterday, looking for car parts and she was the shop assistant. Her name is Beckie and well, Bells, she's beautiful," he explained, his smile radiant now.

I did not expect to feel as happy for him as I did right now. I once feared this moment but all I could feel right now was joy. "That's awesome, Jacob! Are you gonna see her soon?"

" Uh huh," he said, obviously pleased that I was so happy for him. "I'm taking her out on a date on Tuesday. I think she likes me."

"She's a very lucky girl," I said sincerely, happy that Jacob Black was on his way to his happy ending.

"So, why did you drag me all the way out here in the car? I presume it's to get away from Mister Glitter, right?" I rolled my eyes at him. What was it with everyone and their nicknames for Edward? "Tell me, Bells."

"Jacob, if I ask you a serious question, do you swear not to mock me and to take it seriously?" I asked, staring straight ahead, not wanting to see how he'd react.

"I promise, you know I do."

"Do you think I let Edward control me too much? Do you think I live in his shadow?"

His face fell into a morose expression and he spoke solemnly. "Bells, you know I do."

"Oh," I said and my voice sounded hurt but I had not expected him to be so blunt.

"I don't mean to sound awful, Bells, really I don't. You're my best friend, but you need to remember that I watched you go through everything, that I tried to help you get through it. If I had one chance to make that_ leech_-" he spat the word out, "-pay for what he did to you, I would torture him to the ends of the earth. Even when you were with him, when you came to La Push, you were dimmer than you had been when we were kids. I put that down to you being unhappy that you moved here but later I figured out that it was _him_."

I waited and stared out of the window at the green flashing past us.

"What's wrong? Did I upset you?" he asked, glancing at me.

"No, it's just," I took a deep breath. "I'm just starting to wonder if you might be right."

He swerved as he drove, gasping in shock before righting the car. I yelped and clutched my seat.

"What? You need to tell me what happened, right the fuck now!" he shouted.

"Well, he left me at his house the other night, so I stayed over and hung out with Jasper, Rose, and Emmett. Anyway, he came back yesterday afternoon and started shouting at me that I wasn't safe with Jasper and tried to make me walk literally twenty feet to him or something because he wanted me safe and dry," I explained, running over the day's events in my mind.

"Dry?" Jacob asked, dubiously.

"Don't ask. Anyway, he kept saying it was all Jasper's fault that I was disobeying him and kept ordering me to walk over to him."

"And did you? What happened?" Jacob seemed genuinely interested now, glancing at me sideways.

"No. I stayed with Jasper. Jasper got mad and grabbed Edward by the throat, calling Edward a pussy boy. I think he was sick of it," I said, a thrill in my stomach as I remembered how the muscles in Jasper's arm had tensed as he lifted Edward off the ground like he weighed nothing more than a sack of flour.

_Bad Bella! This is not the time to be thinking these thoughts! _I reprimanded myself internally. Hell, I should not be thinking those thoughts about Jasper at _any _time!

"Nice," Jacob said appreciatively. "For a bloodsucker anyway. Someone's gotta sort that douchebag out."

I laughed and he told me how the wolves were doing, telling me how Quil had finally made the pack and how despite all the pack's qualms, Quil loved it, loved being part of things.

He turned at some point and we drove back to Forks, pulling up my driveway. I got out of the car and Jacob was by my side in an instant. I internally grumbled about how everyone was so much quicker than me.

"Bella, there's a vampire through those trees," Jacob murmured next to my ear, tensing, his senses urging him into a flight or fight reaction.

I looked expectantly to where his chin was pointing and saw Jasper walk onto my front lawn.

He was breathtaking. He wore a turtleneck ivory sweater through which you could see how defined his muscles were and jeans that hung lose off his hips. He was smiling a little and he stayed a good distance away, probably so as not to aggravate Jake. He was carrying my jacket on his forearm.

"I'm not here to cause trouble. You left your jacket at my house, Bella, and I wanted to give it back," he explained, ever the perfect gentleman.

"Thank you," I said, smiling warmly, my stomach pulling and doing back flips as he walked towards me, handing it to me and looking down at me with tawny eyes.

Jacob cleared his throat uncomfortably and I snapped out of my daze. "Oh, sorry. Jasper, this is Jacob Black, werewolf and mechanic extraordinaire. He rebuilt that Volkswagen Rabbit and he rebuilt my Chevy's engine. Jacob, this is Jasper. He was born in Texas and was the youngest Major in the Confederate Army of the Civil War." I sounded like a proud mother, bragging about their best feats, trying desperately to forge some kind of a friendship.

"What, so you're like a cowboy?" Jacob asked, the icy tone in his voice marred by incredulity.

"I guess so." Jasper's answering smile was far too polite for the clear animosity in Jacob's tone.

"Huh, well seeing as how I'm an Indian, I guess we're on opposing sides there too, then," Jacob joked, however the ice had almost totally melted in his tone and they both laughed heartily.

"Jacob, could Jasper maybe hang out with us for a while?" I asked, glancing between him and Jasper. Jacob looked doubtful. "C'mon, please! Think of how much it would annoy Edward," I pleaded, trying to make light out of the situation.

"I promise, Jacob. If I was even half the ass my brother is, I would be too embarrassed to leave the house," Jasper promised, a reserved smile on his face.

"That makes two of us then."

They both grinned and we went inside, laughing and joking. As it turned out, the boys got along quite well after the "leech" and "dog" jokes. Jasper was always incredibly warm, willing to make jokes but not at Jacob's expense. He was so charismatic, so likeable but then again, that was how he rose through the ranks in the Confederate Army.

He was gorgeous, rugged, and chiseled as he sat on my couch. Edward was good looking in a refined sort of way like Adonis. Jasper was all man, clearly a warrior, Ares in all his glory.

I kept catching myself when I stared at him too much, silently reprimanding myself when I thought back to my dream and wondered if what was in his pants was as big as my head had made it out to be.

_Stop it! Boyfriend's brother. Boyfriend's brother. Boyfriend's brother. _I thought after I caught myself glancing a little south of where was appropriate.

_Yes,_ _but he's an extremely hot sex god cowboy soldier boy_, I thought, almost licking my lips. He was hot as hell, his mouth turned up at one side in an impish smile as he recollected calling Edward a pussy boy to Jacob, who grinned back.

After about an hour, Jacob stood up. "I better be off, someone's gotta go and check that the old man hasn't rolled down a hill and fallen into the Pacific Ocean."

We all laughed and he made his way out shouting, "See you guys later! Nice meeting you, Jasper!"

"Bye!" we both shouted.

There was an awkward silence between Jasper and I then as we both stared at each other, an odd tension hanging over us. I walked to the front door, locking it after Jacob's exit, turning to see Jasper standing in front of me.

"Everyone's so much faster than me!" I complained, pouting. Jasper chuckled, exuding light with his honey coloured eyes and blond hair, summer emanating from him. _I loved the summer.  
_  
"Bella, I just wanted to apologize." The sweet smile remained on his lips.

"Why?" I asked, puzzled. He had nothing to apologize for aside from featuring in a very vivid sex dream of mine the other night and making me do far too much thinking ever since. Even then, that was only inadvertently him.

"Don't be confused. I want to apologize for presuming you needed protecting yesterday when Edward was there. I know you said you could handle yourself and I _know _you can but I didn't like him speaking to you like that," he explained, his brow furrowing.

Damn, he was handsome. _Focus, Bella!_

"I really appreciated you sticking up for me like that. It was nice knowing someone supported me and had my back. I'm glad someone listens to me and cares about my opinion too. No one ever seems to. I feel like I fade into the background a little, so I curl into a shell and hide," I admitted, sighing. He was so easy to talk to.

"Bella, never feel unimportant. Ever," he said suddenly, coming closer to me and I felt my stomach flip at his close proximity. His hand reached up to cup my chin, his cool fingertips gracing my skin.

The pull in my stomach that I had been feeling settled as he came within inches from my face and I suddenly realized that the pull had not been coming from Edward and it wasn't just some new kind of anxiety. The pull was to Jasper!

"Why?" I breathed, enthralled by him as his eyes took me in. He looked at me, his eyes aflame with passion, just like they had been in my dream.

"Because you're important to me," he said and his eyes shut as he leaned forward and I followed suit.

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**A/N: I hope none of you are mad! I gave you sort of fluffy and then a cliffhanger. ;) This was important for the plot though. Do you guys want me to update in two days with the next chapter? ****Let me know. ****:)**


	5. Chapter 5

_**DISCLAIMER - I own nothing!**_**_ I just partake in the world of "What Stephenie Meyer_ should **_**have written".**_

_**Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence.**_

_**Warning: Darkward ahead. Caution.**_

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**Thanks to Mynxi for being a brilliant Beta and simultaneously, an incredible author. She's gifted.**

**Thanks to bloodofbeckie for the incredible Beta skills and for continually being a terrible influence on me. **

**I fangirl over my Betas, I have no shame. They're both wonderful writers.**

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_Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance_,  
_five-hour phone conversation,_  
_the best soy latte that you ever had, and me?_

_- **Train, Drops of Jupiter**  
_

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**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 4:  
**

_"Bella, never feel unimportant. Ever," he said suddenly, coming closer to me and I felt my stomach flip at his close proximity. His hand reached up to cup my chin, his cool fingertips gracing my skin._

_The pull in my stomach that I had been feeling settled as he came within inches from my face and I suddenly realized that the pull had not been coming from Edward and it wasn't just some new kind of anxiety. The pull was to Jasper!_

_"Why?" I breathed, enthralled by him as his eyes took me in. He looked at me, his eyes aflame with passion, just like they had been in my dream._

_"Because you're important to me," he said and his eyes shut as he leaned forward and I followed suit._

* * *

**Jasper's POV**

At that moment, my cell phone rang. I gritted my teeth, trying very hard to ignore it but it rang again.

"What the hell?" I growled, stepping back and pulling it out to answer.

"Hello?" I snapped sharply.

"Jasper, don't! Not yet!" Alice's voice was hysterical.

I let out an exasperated and angry sigh. "Bye, Alice."

_The irony of being cockblocked by my soon to be ex wife_, I thought sardonically. Fucking typical. That damn psychic _would _be in the way, just when I was about to get the girl.

Bella smiled at me, blushing. Her embarrassment was congealing now, in her return back to reality. I had felt her lust just before the kiss, I had felt her affection. I _knew _she had feelings for me, I could feel them. She knew it too. It made me so sad that she was embarrassed about it and that she couldn't see that I felt the exact same way.

Maybe right now wasn't the time for us to be delving into these feelings. For right now, we needed to pull ourselves together. I smiled gently back at her, so she knew that I wasn't about to push her into accepting how strong her feelings were for me. I understood what a difficult position she was in and how confused she was.

I reached my arms out to her and she stepped into them, feelings of love and calm encircling us. She pressed her face up against my cool chest and snaked her arms around my back as she sighed with contentment. I ran my hand through her hair, and pulled her closer to me, overwhelmed by the urge to just hold her.

We stayed like that for a minute or two before I spoke. "Bella, you should know that if you ever do need someone to stand on your side or to protect you, I'll be here for you. If you let me and want me to, I'll protect you."

"I do want you to," she breathed, but the way she said it made it sound a lot like 'I do want you'.

I smiled and she pulled away sticking her hands on her hips, as she declared, "But just so you know, that stands only if there's any supernatural conflict and we don't have three days to make me immortal. If it's simply a verbal fight between me and Edward, I can handle myself."

I raised an eyebrow at her and she stuck her tongue out at me as she moved to sit on the couch.

I went to sit by her. I could tell she was attracted to me, there was no doubting the way she stared at the muscles in my arm- clearly defined even through my sweater as I stretched my arm across the back of the sofa- or the spike of lust from the action. Most human girls were attracted to us, that's how we were made, aesthetically pleasing to our prey, but I was starting to feel something deeper for her.

"Bella, what're you planning to do about Edward?"

Her face fell slightly as her emotions spiralled downward to worry, fear and...remorse? "I don't know, Jasper. I think I'm going to lay down the law and see how he takes it. I presume he won't take it well." She smiled weakly and I could see how draining this was on her.

""When did you decide this?" I asked, puzzled. I had not realized that she felt so strongly about what he'd done yesterday, shouting at her and trying to control her so blatantly and publically.

"Last night. And earlier, when I was talking with Jake. He helped me through some stuff. Last night I was just thinking about all the things people say to me about being in his shadow. I don't want to be in the shadows anymore, I want to shine, too," she explained.

"Bella, you already do shine," I said before I could catch myself. She whipped her head up to look at me with bewilderment in her eyes.

God, when did I get so weak as to fall so fast? And for a human girl at that! This was crazy The God of War, they called me across the Southern United States, I was feared throughout our world for my position in our histories, as I should be. I was dangerous and I had once considered myself a monster. Until now. Now, as I fell for Bella.

"Rosalie said that I shouldn't let him push me around."

"She's right." And she was. Bella did deserve someone better. Someone strong enough to protect her physically for now and someone who was secure enough to let her breathe and have her own opinion. She deserved someone who would gladly have her on his arm but listen to her wishes.

_Someone like me_, I mused. _Damn it, Whitlock! Focus!_

"Bella, you're strong, stronger than you think. Don't waste your time being unhappy. Aim as high as you want, aim for the sky, _beyond _the sky if that's where you see yourself heading. You can do it, I know you can. You shouldn't let yourself be suffocated by some guy who doesn't see what he has when he has it," I advised solemnly. Her emotions shifted to awe and indecision.

"Jasper, can I tell you something?"

"Anything, sugar."

"You promise you won't laugh? I just, I feel like I can't talk to anyone about it. But you know him, and you and I, we're friends, right? So I can talk to you," she explained, emitting embarrassment.

_Friends? Just friends? _"Of course. Tell me, babe."

"With Edward, well, things are sort of strained. You know he rejects me all the time. Well, that's not new. He doesn't touch me and he never has and says we never will until we're married and I'm a vampire," she said, looking out of the window, too embarrassed to look at me.

"What do you mean?" I could feel her humiliation swell and watched as her cheeks burned red. A few days ago, this would have made my throat burn but now, the scent of her blood held nothing in comparison to the way I felt for her. I barely noticed the slight itch.

She paused, took a deep breath and stared me straight in the face, her chocolate eyes locking with mine. "I mean that he's never touched me with more than a peck on the lips."

"What? Are you serious?" I was shocked. He hadn't even been able to kiss her properly? She was so damn pretty! If she was mine...

_If she was mine_. But she's not. Not yet, anyway.

I wouldn't push her. But if she wanted me, I'd give her everything.

"He says it's too dangerous," she responded, rejected and forlorn.

"Bullshit!" She winced at my cursing but I couldn't help it. The Denali girls have been sleeping with humans for years without any issues since they became vegetarians. Even I, in my time during Maria's army had slept with humans. Granted, sometimes I had been unable to stop myself from draining them, but sometimes I'd manage it.

I'm sure now it would be no problem for me.

_Stop thinking about that! There is no reason to think about that, _I reprimanded myself.

"Sorry, Bella. I just can't believe that was his excuse. If he was a _human drinker_, it would be another matter but as a vegetarian, it shouldn't be that difficult," I explained, still pretty mad that he'd lied to her like that. And then I realized why he was such a prude.

I couldn't contain my laughter. It was hilarious. Pussy Boy had been too scared to touch her.

Bella's eyes were wide with alarm. "What is it?"

"I've figured out why he's being such a prude," I said with a chuckle.

"Why?"

"Babe, he's a virgin! He's over a hundred years old and has never had sex!" I still couldn't contain my hilarity.

I felt the realization spread through her as she took in my words. "Oh! I thought it was something wrong with _me_!"

I stopped laughing, still smiling as I looked into her chocolate brown eyes. "Sweetheart, you shouldn't be worrying about_ that_."

She grinned at me, definitely embarrassed but without her signature blush this time. Maybe we were pushing it now, maybe this was wrong, but this was so easy, easier than existing. The pull had settled and I felt like I should've been here always, talking to her, trying to get that smile out of her, seeing those eyes light up, feeling her lust spike as I drawled out my Southern accent a little heavier than usual.

That's the thing about being an empath. I knew how she felt already. I knew technically by continuing this, I was setting us both up for pain and deceit. But Bella was like a sun. I had been a falling planet until I met her, hurling wherever the hell I was going, just flying through the darkness alone. Now, I finally had seen her light and thinking it wonderful, I fell into her path of orbit and now I couldn't stay away, nor did I want to. She was so warm, inside and out.

"Hey, Bella, what are you doing next weekend?" I blurted out, watching as she traced patterns on the throw draped over the couch.

"Nothing really, except I'm planning to go to Seattle on Saturday for some books. Why?" She looked expectant but she did not seem to be anxious as to the reason for my asking. In fact, she seemed calm, a rarity for her.

"Well, Rosalie told me, before I came over, to ask if you wanted to come to Port Angeles with us on Friday night for dinner." I kept my face nonchalant but in truth, I was a little nervous of her answer.

"Dinner? How can vampires go out for dinner? Won't people wonder why you guys aren't eating? _Why _would you _want _to eat human food by choice? Doesn't it repulse you?" She was inquisitive, but I could hear excitement in her tone.

I chuckled, amused. "Rose is pretentious enough that she likes to go out and show herself and Emmett off to humans. It's an ego thing I think, but we all really do enjoy the chance to get together and spend time just the three of us, having fun. As far as dinner goes, we'll order a mixed grill and you can eat it."

I smiled at her but she did not seem convinced just yet, although I could feel her enthusiasm building. "I can't eat a whole mixed grill, Jasper."

I chuckled. "I wouldn't ask you to, sugar. In Rosalie's human life, social appearances were everything and she still carries that with her. She's quite insecure in some ways. She likes to see people watching her and enjoys the atmosphere of a swanky restaurant," I explained with a warm tone, trying to reassure her and explain Rose's point of view but in a way, I was using Rosalie as an excuse for the fact that I really just wanted to take her out.

"Hmm. Alright, I'll go with you," she agreed. "As long as Rose is _my_date and Emmett's yours."

The suggestion of it as a double date of any kind thrilled me. "He can wear that green dress you suggested, darlin'."

I winked, she laughed and I was devastatingly, heart wrenchingly happy.

On the run home, I ran through what Alice had said the previous afternoon in my mind.

"Jasper, I know how you feel about Bella."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I had declared coldly, turning away from her to leave.

"Jazz, I've seen it."

A moment of clarity was all it took as I rounded on her and looked her dead in the eye. "She was the person in the vision with me, wasn't she?"

Alice said nothing, she just nodded sharply.

"Damn it!" I had cursed, looking around for something invaluable to break and I came up short, so I just paced the study quickly.

"Jasper, you have to be careful. I can see so many outcomes; it's giving me a headache. There's so much to be decided but it all ends with either Bella dead or Bella mated to you."

_Bella _mated _to me_, I had thought, my mind serene as I pictured her by my side.

"Jasper, you must know as well as I do by now that the two of you are soul mates," she said and I could hear the bitter edge under her chirpy voice.

I just looked at her, pacing, unable to articulate the words that flew through my mind.

"I've seen it. You feel that pull, don't you, to her? I saw the way you looked at her today, it's just beginning to start," she said, waiting for me to speak. When I didn't, she pushed on. "Jasper, it's killing me to witness it."

"Why? You knew this would happen. After everything you said to me last night, all those horrible things that you spewed. You ended whatever this was between us, not me. Don't come in here with your self-pity about how difficult it is to be so gifted and how you feel it's your duty to respect the future."

Her face fell further and I reprimanded myself for being so harsh. I stopped pacing and tried to apologize. "I'm sorry, Alice. You're right. This can't be easy on you, and I'm sorry."

She gave me a watery smile. "It's okay. I know it's meant to be and me standing in the way won't help anyone. I know you need to tell Carlisle before your first kiss. That is vital."

"What about Edward?" I asked.

I felt her anxiety but her face remained unreadable. "That one's difficult. It's blurry, too many possibilities and outcomes so far for me to tell you exactly how it will pan out."

"Thank you, Alice, for your help," I said, and I genuinely meant it, projecting out my appreciation towards her.

"We both know we were never meant to be, Jasper. At least now we can be friends." She was smiling brilliantly now.

I nodded and went to walk out of the room but heard her call my name just as I was in the hallway.

"One more thing. While I know that I'm not your mate I still don't understand how she could be." There was an ominous tone to her voice, a deep smugness in her words that I did not like. "I mean, she's so weak! She's my friend but she hangs onto Edward like a little puppy. I'm not sure she's strong enough to leave him Jasper, and if not, this won't end well."

Hearing her sneer, her slating Bella, _her_friend, my ill feelings returned. "If she was truly your friend, you'd know that she's a lot fiercer than she lets on. She'll show you just how strong she is. We both will," I declared, slamming the door on that tiny pixie.

The next few days flew by rapidly as I waited for Friday. Edward came in and out of the house in a fury, glaring at me mostly, his emotions switching from anger to fear every time I challenged his glares.

_That's right. You look away, pussy boy_. I thought, loudly.

On the Wednesday night, I got a text from Bella.

**From: Bella Swan**

**"edward just came over. i tried 2 lay down an ultimatum & he wasnt listening. i told him it was over & he wouldnt listen either. he was really pissed off. some1 will have 2 restrain rose b4 he gets home, she was planning on turning him into deadward anyway. "  
**  
I showed Rosalie the text quickly and her teeth bared, her recent blossoming friendship with Bella motivating her to avenge. I also went and informed Carlisle of what happened, telling him I would need to speak to him about a vision Alice had recently. He smiled and told me to gather everyone so we could all be in the living room to diffuse tension if needed.

A few minutes later, we were all assembled in the living room, waiting. Everything was silent, no one breathing as we listened to him snapping trees through the forest as he raced blindly to the house.

He entered in a rage, knocking over Esme's favourite plant on his entrance, storming past us all to go up to his room.

Carlisle's voice was strong and paternal, a clear command. "Edward, stop."

Edward froze and turned slowly at the bottom of the staircase, his eyes a flat black. His emotions were furious.

"Edward, calm down. Do not take your anger out on Bella. You need to respect her wishes," Carlisle scolded, his hand outstretched to his oldest son of sorts.

"Oh, be quiet, Carlisle. She's a_ whore_, that's what she is. She ended it because I wouldn't touch her," he spat, his mouth contorting into a sneer.

Rosalie went to leap forward but Emmett caught her. Although he was strong, he was barely able to contain his furious wife who was frantic to protect her new friend. Everyone was angry at his comment except Alice who emanated indifference.

I went to help Emmett hold Rose back. If anyone was going to kill that bastard, it would be me. I'd tear him to shreds and feed him to the werewolves.

His glare caught Rosalie, thrashing between me and Emmett, snarling as she tried to get to Edward. Her fury was almost contagious and I was having a very hard time controlling my emotions, something I'd been learning to perfect for so long.

"Ah, it's probably you that's got Bella into all this slutty behaviour. She tried to unbutton my shirt and I had to push her off of me," he taunted, he was looking at me when he said it though. He was taking great pleasure at my disgust with the idea of Bella seducing anyone but me. He glanced back at Rosalie, his voice cutting. "We all know how _you _threw yourself around, Rosalie, just like Bella."

And with that, all hell broke loose. I got there first, bringing him on the ground with one punch of my fist, before sending him a fuckton of pain, pain as bad as the change itself. He writhed on the floor, his eyeballs rolling back into his head.

"Don't you fucking _dare _speak about Bella _or_ Rose like that!" I roared, punching him again and hearing a satisfying pop as I dislocated his jaw. I was so angry, projecting out fear; the others cowered behind me also.

_The Major had come out to play._

Don't you dare even _think _Bella's name, you filthy scumbag." All I felt was anger as the blackness filled my peripheral vision.

_The Major had been locked away since 1938. Now, he was back._

"Do you feel like the fucking martyr now?" I roared, ripping off his left leg, causing venom to flow out of the stump and fill his eyes as his body contorted on the floor and I tossed his damn leg down the hall, unable to give a shit what happened to it.

I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted his head to my face before I spoke slowly. "You are not fit to speak her name."

I was about to rip his head off, my smile feral, when I heard Carlisle shout through the haze of terror in the room. "Jasper, stop!"

I paused in my fury and froze when I saw my horrified family behind me. I wasn't even sure what I was doing. I had no idea how I got here, all I wanted was Edward's slow and painful death.

Carlisle took over the situation. "Esme, Alice, calm Edward down. Tell him to make his way to the Denali's. I cannot have this amount of trouble in my house, and I will not stand by and let him speak to _my family _like that," he instructed, turning to me, he commanded, "You. Upstairs. Now."

A few hours later, our coven down to six vampires, one of whom was escorting Pussy Boy to Alaska, his leg re-attached after I had tossed it underneath the couch.

Esme had been incredibly disappointed and although Edward had been thoroughly apologetic, there was a hint of deceit and smugness in his emotions. I gritted my teeth as he and Esme departed, hearing Rosalie's tearless sobs on the other side of the house as horrific memories flooded back to her. I felt her despair and pain to my core and damned Edward to hell for hurting so much of my family.

Carlisle and I had finally finished speaking about the term "soul mates" and the effect my relationship with Bella could have on our family. He was gracious about it, happy that fate was working its way around, content that I was happy, pleased that Bella was developing a backbone and would eventually be happy too.

He sat back in his chair and looked over at me. "There are three types of mate, son. Your average mate- the mate of one's choosing, found after the change, the bonded mate - in which one of a mated pair created the other and soul mates. Soul mates are incredibly rare. I have only heard legends of such a thing and the only vampire I know of who had a soul mate was Marcus of the Volturi." Carlisle's was voice grave, and I glanced him from my perch in front of the picture window.

"Didn't his mate die?"

"Yes. That is why he's so resigned to his misery, so bored of living yet unable to die." Carlisle was compassionate as always, worrying about people.

"Anyway, our legends state that soul mates are made for each other exactly, a perfect match. Their souls are a piece of a puzzle that when joined, fuel a huge amount of power into both halves. They are drawn to each other, connected. It's a very rare thing," Carlisle stated, his eyes glinting at the new information that he would be able to watch unfold.

"I feel a pull to her," I admitted, feeling the pull on my stomach again, making me slightly anxious. "It softens when I'm with her."

"A natural defense mechanism, your body knows it is at its strongest when you are with her, able to harness your rage and focus on your need to protect her. Your souls are also anxious to be together for comfort and for love. It's an incredible thing." His voice was filled with reverence but in his emotions, I could tell he was happy for us.  
"Carlisle, y'all don't feel that I betrayed you by going behind Edward's back and falling for her, will you?" I inquired quizzically, genuinely not wanting to rock the boat.

"Jasper, this is out of your control. It is your path and I would be more annoyed if you fought fate. Fighting fate has disastrous consequences," he replied before placing a hand on my shoulder and smiling. "I'm proud of you, son."

And he was. I could feel it.

Thursday night came and went with me and Emmett returning home from hunting to hear Rosalie and Bella in Rose's bedroom, giggling at their dress choices for tomorrow's date. It sounded like Bella was borrowing a dress and shoes from Rosalie. Her laughter was musical and the pull in my stomach urged me to go and see her, to hold her and kiss her...

"Is Jasper home, Rose?" Bella whispered under her breath, forgetting that everyone in the house would hear what she said.

As it happened, Emmett and I froze staring at the ceiling and Alice made an irritated noise, wrinkling her nose.

_Jealousy is a cruel mistress,_ I thought ironically as I felt her jealousy spike at Bella's words and I rolled my eyes very blatantly in her direction. _So much for accepting Bella and I._

"Yes, _why_?" Rosalie teased, shifting her weight like her hand were on her hips.

"No reason." Bella was a terrible liar and her false attempt at innocence fell on deaf ears.

"You think he's _hot_! You like him, don't you, missy?" Rosalie must have been doing this for my benefit too, but I could tell she was really enjoying having girl time.

"Maybe," she spoke so quietly that I almost didn't catch it but Rosalie's squealing confirmed it.

I grinned and high fived Emmett who knew all about the "soul mate" issue. Everyone in the house did by now. It isn't very possible to have secrets in a coven of vampires.

The girls changed subject and Emmett and I went to sit on a couch, opposite the one where Alice sat, radiating anger and jealousy.

"Hmph." Her tiny little body was sitting up straight, legs crossed, arms folded.

"Aww, is the dwarf jealous of the fact that it's all working out for Jasper? Or that Bella is quite happy to Barbie _with Rosalie_ when she would always give you hell?" Emmett mocked. He had tried to be nice to her but Alice had made smug comments about Bella, and Emmett had developed a fondness for teasing in the form of laughing _at _her, not _with _her anymore.

Alice ignored us all, watching the TV that was playing the news, someone appealing for news on a missing boy from the town of Forks.

Half an hour later, Bella came downstairs with Rosalie in tow, chatting about how she wouldn't be able to eat too much because she doesn't want to burst out of her dress.

"I've gotta go, guys. I promised I'd cook for Charlie but I'll see the _three _of you tomorrow. Say hi to Carlisle for me when he gets back." Bella's smile was intoxicating and I could not let her leave without her directly addressing me so I stood up and walked over to her, my lip curling up in a half-smile.

"Bella, how're you getting there tomorrow?" I asked coyly. She'd finished with Edward, so I wasn't trying as hard to keep up the pretence of seeing her as just a friend anymore.

I watched as she stared a little too long at my cheekbones and my ears before answering, "Rose is coming to my house after school to get ready, we'll do make-up and hair, and we'll meet you at the restaurant at seven. Nice try though, cowboy." She grinned at me.

"Glad to be of service, ma'am." I winked at her and she giggled at me.

Alice stood up then, turning to us, arms still folded like they were welded to her tiny chest, a scowl on her face. "Bella, I really don't think you should wear that dress tomorrow. It's classless and revealing and the color makes you look washed out, if I-"

"Alice," Bella said.

"What?"

"Piss off," she said with a smirk before walking out of the house to Rosalie's car.

"That's my girl. Check out that backbone, bitch," Rose bragged to Alice. No love lost there, then.

Alice was dumbfounded, staring at the space Bella had just vacated. I couldn't help but laugh as I sat next to Emmett. "I told you she'd show you."

It was Friday night and Emmett and waited in the parking lot, leaning against his Jeep.

I had opted for a black button down shirt, rolled up to the elbows and suit pants. It was a simple look but Rose told me that I "looked fuck hot in it". Many girls who had walked past us to get into the restaurant had stared, and I actually watched one blond walk into a telephone pole.

The restaurant was a little white steak house on the corner, gorgeous, elegant and fancy, shrubbery lining the parking lot.

"So, is tonight the night, man?" Emmett suddenly asked.

"What night?"

"The night you make a move on Bella." He was grinning at me.

"Shut it, fucker," I warned, grinning back.

My phone beeped then.

**From: Peter**

**"Hav fun 2night with ur girl. Char + I look 4ward 2 meetin her soon.**"

_Typical fucking know it all Peter, _I thought to myself. I rolled my eyes just as the BMW rolled into the parking lot and the girls got out.

Bella was fucking stunning. I had only ever seen her dressed up at prom, but even then Alice had covered her in so many frills, it had been almost impossible to even see her body beneath it and I could not believe what I had missing out on.

She wore a tight red halter neck dress, the neckline scooping down between her breasts. The rest clung tightly to her curves. It was mid thigh length and she wore black stilettos. I saw this not only as sexy, but as an opportunity to wrap an arm around her.

Just in case she stumbled, of course.

Her mahogany hair was long and tousled, flowing just below her breasts. Her make-up was subtle, just enough to enhance her chocolate eyes and those dark lashes, and just enough to give her a light permanent blush and to add a shimmer to her full lips.

How have I never noticed that her legs went on for days? How had I never noticed what a beautiful figure she had, or how shiny her hair was? I'd never noticed how insanely delicate her heart shaped face was. It seemed as if I was making up for lost time now.

Her eyes looked like they were on fire as she took me in and I felt a wave of lust hit me. I wasn't the only one who liked what I saw.

"You look good, sweetheart," I commented, reverence in my tone.

"So do you." I caught her gaze slide to my forearms and up to where my collarbone was just visible where I'd undone my top button.

I offered her my arm and she took it. I opened the door for her, a coy smile on my face. Once a Southern boy, always a Southern boy, manners are never lost on me. As we walked in, I saw many male eyes shift to look at Bella. She was every man's wet dream with those doe eyes and those long legs. Rosalie was gaining attention too, but not quite like Bella. I had a sneaky suspicion Rose had set this up a little.

The waiter showed us to our table, leering at Bella's cleavage the whole way and I resisted the urge to wrap my arm around her and press her warm body up against mine so he knew she wasn't available. Or I could just end him. Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for me, I did neither, honoring my promise to Bella.

As we sat, I couldn't help stealing a last glance at Bella's legs and I was sure she caught me looking as she shot me a coy smile and I winked at her.

The waiter came back pretty soon afterwards, needing one more look at Bella. Needless to say, his eyes did not shift from her breasts, to the point where he asked _them_if there wasn't anything he could get for her.

"Just get us the damn mixed grill, four Cokes and then fucking move," I snarled, growling at the bastard until he dragged himself and his boner back to the kitchen.

I caught Bella glancing at me appreciatively then and I knew my little show of protectiveness had been approved of as sexy rather than overbearing.

Bella had picked at some chicken and drank a Coke through a straw with her mouth in a little round "o". Emmett and Rose started playing footsie under the table and excused themselves quickly, claiming they had plans waiting for them in their bedroom.

"Take my Jeep, Jazz," Emmett offered, throwing his keys at me, which I caught one handed. Emmett and Rose disappeared, leaving me and Bella alone.

"Those two," she said, rolling her eyes from under impossibly long lashes. "I should have known they'd do something like this." I could still feel her lust, watching her eyes skim my neck, my jaw and my lips.

"You don't mind though." It was a statement, not a question. I was confident in my assessment of her emotions that alone time with me was not a problem in the least.

"No, I don't mind," she agreed, swigging her Coke.

"You wanna go for a walk, sugar, before we make our way back?" I knew the answer. I could feel the answer. I had always been unsure of how strong her pull was to me but I could feel it tonight and it simmered.

"Sure."

I left a fifty on the table and we set off to walk around the block. Bella seemed graceful enough in stilettos as we chatted about her the trip to Seattle she had planned tomorrow and about Edward's awful treatment of her at school, making rude comments in front of her friends and finally of the way he had spoken to her two nights ago. As we were three quarters of the back to the restaurant, she stumbled a little on her feet and I caught her hand in mine. There was a silent ultimatum moment then: let go of her hand and play it safe or risk holding on and getting rejected? I knew I wouldn't be rejected if we really were soul mates.

Sure enough, we continued on our walk. Our hands laced together as we rounded the final corner, the parking lot in sight now. The bit of sidewalk we walked on was decorated with shrubbery on one side, the same one that encircled the parking lot.

"I don't know, Jazz, I just want to_ feel_," she complained, her voice full of emotion.

"Well, I don't know if you've heard, sugar, but as an empath, I'm _very _good at making you feel," I drawled, a double meaning laced in my words.

She turned to me as we reached the pedestrian entrance to the parking lot. "You're capable of making me feel many things, Jasper Whitlock," she said, but suddenly she fell backwards and I caught her in my arms, lifting her back to her feet.

I stared into chocolate eyes as I held onto her waist and leaned forwards, as did she.

Suddenly, our lips were touching and we were kissing. Whispers at first but then her hands slid up my arms, squeezing my biceps slightly as she made her way to my neck, knotting her fingers in my hair and the kiss heated up.

I licked her lower lip, asking for permission and her lips parted. Our tongues fought for dominance, dancing in her mouth and I won, sliding one hand to her lower back and running my fingers through her luscious hair with the other.

She pressed her body closer to me and I felt the fire of her touch, feeling her dainty little neck through the shroud of her hair as I ran my other hand from her lower back up to her shoulder blades to feel the warm bare skin there.

Her lips were electric and my dead heart felt like it had been given the shock of my existence. Fuck, this felt good. This felt so fucking right with her in my arms. She was perfect. This was perfect. Everything was absolutely perfect.

Until she pulled away.

* * *

**A/N: What did you think of the kiss? Why do you guys think she pulled away? What did you think of Darkward and Alice in this chapter? Review!**

**Okay, so I'm taking the time to do a slightly longer author's note to tell you guys that I LOVE YOU! I hit 100 reviews this morning and that was amazing. This is my first story and I never expected to get this much response but you guys have been so wonderful to me. Just know that I really do appreciate it.  
**

**You asked me to update today, so here it is! If you ask for it so quickly again, I may just cave in, so let me know if you want it faster like this one and I'll see what I can do! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

_**DISCLAIMER – ****I own nothing! However, I am now no longer ill and I had a McDonalds milkshake today, it was great.**_

_**Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence.**_

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**Thanks to the beautiful Mynxi for getting this to me so quickly and for being so thorough in Beta-ing and for cheering me up tonight. Also for doing the Made of Stone sequel to Saving Bella! Go check it out, guys.  
**

**Thanks to bloodofbeckie for being such a good friend and for dragging me through my personal life, kicking and screaming, telling me how it is, conversing with me about sexy men and for still being one of the best Betas on the planet. I love her.**_**  
**_

* * *

_Scissor-shaped across the bed  
You are red, violent red  
You hollow out my hungry eyes  
You hollow out my hungry eyes_

_- **Taking Back Sunday, Make Damn Sure**  
_

* * *

_****_**PREVIOUSY IN CHAPTER 5: **

_Suddenly, our lips were touching and we were kissing. Whispers at first but then her hands slid up my arms, squeezing my biceps slightly as she made her way to my neck, knotting her fingers in my hair and the kiss heated up._

_I licked her lower lip, asking for permission and her lips parted. Our tongues fought for dominance, dancing in her mouth and I won, sliding one hand to her lower back and running my fingers through her luscious hair with the other._

_She pressed her body closer to me and I felt the fire of her touch, feeling her dainty little neck through the shroud of her hair as I ran my other hand from her lower back up to her shoulder blades to feel the warm bare skin there._

_Her lips were electric and my dead heart felt like it had been given the shock of my existence. Fuck, this felt good. This felt so fucking right with her in my arms. She was perfect. This was perfect. Everything was absolutely perfect._

* * *

**Bella's POV**

And then I was kissing him, my lips working in strange confusing ways, the same way they had in my dream, _that _dream.

In the movies, it's described as fireworks, but I did not feel like things were exploding in the sky, cracking and clapping against the blackness of the night. Instead, I felt a fire rising in my stomach that was clenching and twisting, pulling and burning, a beautiful bliss, warming me from the inside.

The urge to touch Jasper had been overwhelming until this point and now here we were, and he was holding me in strong arms where I felt safe and secure even without any manipulation.

The pieces all seemed to fall into place in that moment as my hands twisted within his golden hair and the pull that I had fought all evening finally subsided.

Despite the cool temperature of his arms, the passion of the kiss was hot and I pushed myself closer into it, the scent of honey and sunshine taking over my senses.

It had only taken me a week to fall for Jasper Whitlock, and right here, right now, as I felt his hand slide down my back a little further and the other tangle in my hair, I finally knew that I belonged here.

The pull in my stomach that I had fought all evening wasn't painful anymore; it was just sweet warmth of contentment and lust as our tongues danced momentarily before he dominated - just like in the dream. I briefly wondered why I had ever allowed myself to fight the pull.

_This was perfect._

But this wasn't allowed to be perfect. My brain snapped into attention as I remembered why this was wrong.

_Edward, Alice, their entire family._

I pulled away sharply and stepped back into the night, away from his arms.

"Jasper," I breathed, my voice sounding torn between awe and torture.

He was still, frozen on the spot as he stared at me, waiting for me to speak. His eyes challenged me for an opinion or an explanation, or even a comment as to why I had just pulled away from his touch.

"This is wrong, Jasper. What about Alice? What about Edward?" I was panicking now, visions of Carlisle and Esme turning against me but a voice inside my head was screaming at me to return to his arms, to feel that security again.

He hesitated before taking a step toward me, forcing a feeling of calm to wash over me as he tipped my chin up with a long finger to look into my eyes. "Bella, both of us are single. We're not doing anything wrong, sweetheart."

All train of thought were lost as I watched his mouth form the words, the sound of his slight Southern accent threading through the syllables affecting me in ways I didn't know were possible. I forced myself to focus. "What about your family?"

His arms encircled my waist once more and he leaned down a little closer to my face, whispering in his deep voice, "You're beautiful, Bella."

I almost felt my heartbeat stutter at his words and I did not regret the soft, sweet kiss that I was met with immediately.  
This was where I wanted to be, but it wasn't possible. It shouldn't be happening. Alice and he may get back together. Edward would be furious, because he hadn't accepted the idea that we were over. I did not believe fate could have ever brought us to this moment, to this feeling. Hell, the only reason I'd developed this crush on Jasper was because of a sex dream.

I knew that it wasn't just a crush now; it was a restless and wild fire that raced through my veins. Initially, I had felt myself falling for him slowly, like I was on the edge of the cliff in La Push, too afraid to jump into the waters below. The kiss we had just shared had been the push I needed, and I had fallen straight into these unchartered waters.

"Jasper, I- I need to go home," I stuttered, trying to think coherently, to assess the full consequence of this. "I really need to think about this."

"Whatever you want, sugar." He offered me his arm and I took it, shivering as we walked through the cool night air. I was trying desperately not to trip in heels and so far had succeeded. I could see people leaving the restaurant, staring at us, at him, and I wondered absent-mindedly if they would think we were a couple. I realized with a start that I wanted them to. I wanted strangers to believe that I was his and he was mine. I wanted to scream from the rooftops that we'd just kissed and that he'd called me beautiful.

_He_ called _me_beautiful.

However, I realized that it's not good social etiquette to brag to strangers about your first kiss with an extremely gorgeous vampire who also happens to be your ex's brother, so I hurried to get in the Jeep, and fought another shiver against the cold.

He walked around to the driver's side and climbed in before appraising me. When he saw me shiver again, he reached around to the back seat and handed me a black hooded zip up jacket. It smelled like him and I put it on as he started up the Jeep.

We drove south on the 101 in silence for about twenty minutes before I couldn't handle it any longer.

"Jasper, I didn't mean to seem like I'm not interested in you," I murmured, watching the shadowy silhouettes of trees flashing past the Jeep's windows, the moon giving off a ghostly silver light.

He didn't speak, and I finally turned to see him staring at the road in front of us.

"Because I am. I-" I paused, trying to gather my courage. "I'm sort of crazy about you." I didn't want to do this in the car but I couldn't help it. Belatedly, I considered that this might not be the right time or place. If he rejected my confession of feelings for him in this enclosed space, it might very well torture me to death.

He finally turned, angling his face toward me, giving me a knowing and mischievous smile. "Isabella, you were breathtaking tonight." I smirked, knowing very well that I hadn't looked half bad.

"Every man in the room tonight knew it too," he continued.

"You nearly made that waiter shit his pants though," I commented, giggling at the memory.

"It would've been better than him creaming his pants over you, babe," he affirmed, slinging his right arm around my shoulders suddenly, pulling me closer to him.

"Did it bother you?" I inquired, trying to subtly snuggle into his shoulder as I attempted to calm the thrill in my body at his affection.

His mouth twisted in thought. "Yes," he confirmed, his voice low. "I mean, I know you're not mine and up until then, nothing had happened between the two of us, but watching and feeling the way that creep _lusted _over you disturbed me. You're a gorgeous woman, Isabella and you deserve to be treated with respect."

"Doesn't stop you though, Jasper. I saw the way you checked me out," I countered in a teasing tone, remembering the way he had gaped at my legs very indiscreetly as I had gotten out of Rosalie's car.

"Hey! There's a difference between appreciating something and drooling all over it!" His tone was light but his eyes were a tad defensive.

"I don't mind _you _looking," I muttered to my lap, feeling the familiar flush in my cheeks.

"And why is that, doll?" He looked at me sideways, his face quite clearly interested in my answer.

"Because I like that you see me that way." Why couldn't I stop spewing out word vomit? I knew if I continued there might be a crushing rejection ahead and I couldn't handle that. I thought affectionately back to the time before I had started hanging out with Rose, back to when I didn't talk much and actually possessed a verbal filter.

This time, I looked him full on, as I tried to radiate confidence. Of course, he would already know how I felt, but I couldn't stop from keeping up the illusion.

"Bella, do you look at me that way?" he implored. I was gradually filled with a sense of true confidence as I heard his gentle tone.

I nodded at him as I watched his reaction very closely. He didn't appear to even _have_a reaction and turned back to the road, speeding through the twists and turns, just like the rest of his family.

A few minutes went by in silence before I became sick of waiting for a response. "Say something!" I exploded, almost shrill.

He chuckled. "Bella, I'm an_ empath_. I already know how you feel about me. I feel it every time we're together. But I'm also a man, and I do like hearing it every now and then."

I smiled despite my embarrassment. "Jasper, did you feel what I felt the night that I walked in your house and you and Alice were arguing?"

"Pure lust, you mean?" My face flamed yet again, and I wasn't sure if it had ever been so red. "Yes. I was confused because I've monitored your emotions before and although you always found me attractive, as all human girls do, I never noticed anything stronger. I tried to put it off to something you had just done with Edward."

"Ugh! You knew about that even then?" I groaned, slapping a hand over my eyes.

"Empath, remember, sugar." He beamed down to where I was still tucked under his arm and I felt that warmth in my stomach again.

"It wasn't because of Edward. It was because of a dream I had," I confessed defensively, trying to rid all talk of Edward from this conversation.

I hadn't realized the mess I'd gotten myself into until he asked, "What happened in the dream?"

Crap! I couldn't tell him. The memory of the planes of his body moving above me, the feeling of absolute pleasure as he pulled me into his arms floated back into my mind before I could stop it and then I heard him gasp sharply. Busted.

He must have felt my lust.

I froze, waiting for a response, waiting for him to say anything that would save me from total humiliation.

"Huh," he uttered. He kissed my hair then and flashed me a gentle smile. "Don't be embarrassed. It's hot. I presume Pussy Boy doesn't know."

"Are you kidding? If he did, I think he'd have come after you!" I sounded shrill, despite the joke.

"Are you saying I couldn't take him?" he countered, smirking. "I'm one of the most feared vampires in our world. 'The God of War'." His voice twisted round the nickname sarcastically, much the same way Rosalie's voice twisted around 'Royce King'.

We were entering the town now, Forks flashing past the window as we neared my house.

"What are you doing tomorrow, babe?"

"I'm going to Seattle for some new books," I answered, slightly regretting having already told Charlie of my plans. I would have much rather stayed with Jasper.

"Well, I'm going hunting tomorrow with Emmett anyway. Would you want me to pick you up on Monday after school and we can hang out at my house?" He turned onto my road and I realized my time with him was coming to an end for tonight.

"Sure. I promised Rose that I'd visit anyway," I said, snuggling into his shoulder as I tried to hold on to the moment.

When we pulled up to my house, he got out, shot round the car and opened my door for me, offering a hand to help me out.

"You have wonderful manners, Mister Whitlock," I complimented, a teasing tone to my voice.

"Like I said earlier, babe, once a Southern boy, always a Southern boy." I held onto his arm and he walked me to the door in silence.

"Thank you for tonight, Jasper. It was amazing," I whispered through the night into his ochre eyes.

"No problem, ma'am. Thank you for allowing my presence in your company," he lilted in that gorgeous accent.

I giggled and he continued much more seriously this time. "Isabella Swan-" he stepped back a little in an attempt to look me in the eye. "Do you feel the pull between us, or is it just me?"

I nodded. After being so close to him on the car ride, now that he was away, I could feel it in my belly, calling me forwards to him. He stepped forward, relieving the tension for both of us.

He ensnared my waist once more, looking deep in my eyes, brown to gold and he whispered, "I'll be back for you, sweetheart. I _will_miss you."

He kissed me slower this time, pouring desire onto me as I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to hold him here.

He chuckled as we broke apart and lifted my hand up to kiss it gently before walking back to the Jeep, climbing in and driving off.

I sighed and walked into my house. Charlie was sitting on the sofa, a football game blaring out of the television and a beer in his hand.

Charlie appraised me with a scowl, looking at my dress and my made up face. "Where did you go with Rose?"

"We went out for a meal with Emmett and Jasper," I answered simply as I locked the front door behind me in an attempt to not face him.

"Emmett and Jasper? What about Edward? Where's he?" He was trying to seem stern but his curiosity was getting the better of him as I took off my heels.

"I finished it with Edward, Dad," I told him, watching as his face etched into complete shock.

"Why? Are you sure this is a good idea, Bells?" His eyes were concerned as he searched for any sign of Zombie Bella's return.

"I'm sure. I don't want to be controlled anymore, I am no one's puppet," I declared, a triumphant smile on my face as I realized the truth in my words.

He beamed, his eyes warm. He was not a man of many words and I felt the awkward Swan gene emanate through the room. Nevertheless, his voice was sincere as he said, "I'm glad, Bells."

There was a pause, the awkward tension thickening. "So, are you still planning on going to Seattle tomorrow, honey?" he asked.

"Yup," I shouted back, walking upstairs.

"Be careful, baby girl," I heard him murmur to the television.

It was times like this when I realized how much I adored my father.

I went to bed that night without fear or worry until I pondered the past week.

Mr Glitter, Pussy Boy, Swollen Headward, Deadward.

He had come over a few nights ago, all sickly sweet. I wanted to try, really I did, I wanted to try for all the months I had wasted crying and screaming over him, I wanted to try for his family, for myself. But not even for him.

I had decided if he rejected me, I would have to accept that I was no more than a puppet and that he pulled the strings. I was not allowed freedom or very much affection.

I could not allow myself to be manipulated or hurt anymore.

I had tried and he had pulled away. I tried again and again and he had declared that I was embarrassing myself.

It was at that point I realized that the man I had mourned for only weeks earlier was not the man before me. The man I envisioned through those dark months was not the man here, I had worked him up in my mind, placing him on a pedestal, exactly where he wanted me to have him.

He must have _known _how I would fall apart without him. When a puppet has its strings cut, it becomes limp and lifeless without the master.

But I am not a puppet, I'm a woman.

So I told him where he could stick his shiny Volvo and his puppet strings and his 'you don't realize how utterly breakable you are, love' excuses.

He didn't like that. But why would he? Thinking for myself is not allowed.

But who was he to call the shots for me?

I awoke early to the sound of my cell phone ringing shrilly, protesting against the silence and peace of the murky morning, rain pattering softly against my window.

I answered it. "Hello?"

"BELLA! You have to come over quickly! There's been an emergency!" Alice voice screeched down the phone, fear cracking the bell tone to her voice.

I immediately sat up, my heart pounding. "What do you mean, Alice? What's going on?"

"There's no time to explain! Just come quickly!" With that, she hung up and I dressed rapidly, grabbing my keys and running downstairs, trying and failing to not freak out.

I noticed Charlie had already left for the day to go fishing as I dashed out of the house.

As I drove, I wandered what the hell could've happened. Why would they need me to be there? I mean, I'm just a fragile human; they certainly could sort problems out between themselves. Was it because they thought I was part of the family? Were they leaving again? Was something to do with Edward? Or Jasper?

Had Alice found out about Jasper and me? Of course, she would have already known, she would have seen it. _Shit_. Was Edward there? These questions chased me all the way up the three mile drive to the Cullen house.

When I pulled up and leapt out of the car, I was met with Alice on the porch, who raced towards me. She was no longer frightened like she had been on the phone. In fact, it seemed like she was the complete opposite. Her smile was angelic in its beauty, but yet there was something wrong with the picture that I could not put my finger on.

"What's going on, Alice?" I asked her, warily.

"Oh, nothing! It's just... we haven't spent any time together since Italy because of all this with you and Jasper. That kiss looked a bit too much, Bella, I think you're going too fast and that dress! Ugh! If I could've dressed you, you would've looked much more elegant," she rambled, a haunting edge to her voice as she insulted me, towing me into the house.

As we walked into the bright living room, I noticed Esme curled up on one of the couches, looking concerned, with Carlisle's arm around her. Rosalie was whispering to her, on Esme's other side, her voice soothing.

"What's happened?" I questioned sharply as I took in Esme's frozen form.

"Oh, Esme only went and _lost _Edward, didn't you?" Alice laughed in Esme's direction, a cutting edge to her voice. Rosalie shot her a furious glare and I wondered why Alice didn't cringe away in fear; I remembered being on the receiving end of those glares only too well.

_How was that remotely funny?_ I asked myself, wondering what exactly was going on.

Esme turned to me slowly, her eyes apologetic and distraught as she stared at me. "Bella, we were running and he, he got away from me. He's so much faster than me and I-" and she began dry sobbing and Carlisle rubbed her back, whispering words of comfort to her.

Rosalie pulled out her cell phone, "We need to call the boys and tell them to come home immediately," Rose declared, strong as always. Alice nodded eagerly and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

I heard Emmett's booming hello from the speaker of the phone before Roslie's voice cut him off. "Emmett? You guys need to come home now!"

The response sounded irritated.

"Edward got away from Esme."

This time, the scratchy reply sounded worried, a little louder.

"No, we don't know where he is."

A familiar voice from the kitchen suddenly broke the tension. "I can help you with that."

Edward stepped out into the living room, his bronze hair almost wild as the look in his black eyes as they burned across the room.

He stared at me. "Ah, Bella, love! So nice of you to be here. Alice told me you would be."

I looked at Alice who was smiling, although it did not reach her eyes. In fact, she too, looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Bella. This really is for the best. I think you need to talk. I love you both, and I don't like seeing you like this."

_Like kissing Jasper, you mean._I nearly said.

It was Rosalie who stood up, still on the phone. Emmett could be heard on the other end, his voice a buzz, the only thing breaking the silence. "You fucking bitch! Who the hell are you to play God with everyone's relationships! Your pathetic jealousy is embarrassing. Bella has made her choice and it is _not_ Edward! You're going to have to fucking accept that and stop causing _shit_."

Alice did not respond but Edward began circling the room, a sneer on his face, his teeth bared. He paced around in front of where Rosalie stood in front of me.

I backed away instinctively, desperately wishing for Jasper and his calming effect, his arms, his kiss, anything. Edward looked like a shark, his eyes void of emotion as he steadily circled the room, stalking me.

"And why would Bella make that choice?" he asked, his voice even and soft, ominous in the tension of the room. Shouting could be heard from the phone and I recognized Jasper's voice.

"Jasper," Alice's voice whispered, sad for the first time I had arrived. I watched her thinking and as the expression on Edward's face turned deadly and furious, I knew she was telling him of Jasper and I , of the kiss that we had shared.

Edward's teeth snapped together. "NO!" he roared, blurring towards me. I felt his hand around my neck, strangling me in his vice grip. A rush of air escaped my lungs as he thrust me up against the wall, his teeth snapping near my neck. His black eyes bore into mine with such ferocity that I knew I was about to die.

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**A/N: What do you think is gonna happen? How many people have their pitchforks out for Doucheward and Malice right now? Review and tell me your thoughts on this chapter! :)**

**Just a warning, updating will be less frequent now, like we're down to 3/5 days because my personal life has got quite busy as of recently and will continue to be for a while. I hope you guys aren't mad and I'm still trying very hard! :)  
**

**Also, I love hearing from you so PM me or review and I'll get back to you as fast as I can! :)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

_**DISCLAIMER – I own nothing! I do have a lot of work to do that I haven't done because I'd rather write.**_

_**Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence. Also, Darkward gets a little crazy in this chapter. You have been warned.  
**_

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**Thank you so much to Mynxi for all her help with my personal life and for being a brilliant Beta, I couldn't have continued to write this without her egging me on.**

**So much thanks and love to bloodofbeckie too. She helps make this magical with her crazy Beta skills and general wizardry. She is the older American sister that God did not give me because he thought we'd fight over Jackson Rathbone too much and argue about whether tea or coffee is better. **

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_Beauty queen of only eighteen,  
she had some trouble with herself.  
He was always there to help her,  
she always belonged to someone else._

_**- Maroon 5, She Will Be Loved**_

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**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 6:**_**  
**_

_"And why would Bella make that choice?" Edward asked, his voice even and soft, ominous in the tension of the room. Shouting could be heard from the phone and I recognized Jasper's voice._

_"Jasper," Alice's voice whispered, sad for the first time I had arrived. I watched her thinking and as the expression on Edward's face turned deadly and furious, I knew she was telling him of Jasper and I , of the kiss that we had shared._

_Edward's teeth snapped together. "NO!" he roared, blurring towards me. I felt his hand around my neck, strangling me in his vice grip. A rush of air escaped my lungs as he thrust me up against the wall, his teeth snapping near my neck. His black eyes bore into mine with such ferocity that I knew I was about to die._

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**Bella's POV**

The pain that came with Edward's hand around my neck was excruciating as his eyes burned into mine.

"You and Jasper? _Soul mates_?" he growled, his venom-coated teeth snapping too close to my neck. "Please," he scoffed menacingly, grinding those teeth together.

I whimpered and Rosalie turned to me as I whimpered, the cell phone dropping to the floor as her eyes burned with hatred.

"If you move one step closer, Rose, I swear I will kill her," he threatened, not bothering to look at her as his eyes continued to bore into mine, while reading Rosalie's thoughts. I saw a flicker of knowledge flash across his face and then he spat out, "You looked like a common slut in that dress you wore on your little date. How very classless, Bella."

I sobbed involuntarily and he threw his head back with maniacal laughter. Carlisle and Esme shifted slowly to where Rose stood; Esme sobbing tearlessly, Carlisle with his arm outstretched as if he could somehow stop all of this. Alice stood slightly behind them wide-eyed, with terror or excitement, I could not tell.

"Please, Edward. Let her go. She is innocent. Do not take your frustration out on her," Carlisle begged, his eyes pleading as Carlisle glanced at me.

_Help, help. Somebody, please help_, I chanted over and over as I struggled to breathe against Edward's iron grip. _JASPER._ _Where is Jasper?_

Edward's other hand came up and brushed my hip, before using it to hold me in place. "Innocent? Hah! Don't make me laugh!" he called in Carlisle's direction. He turned his face back to mine with a glare. "Now, Bella, tell me why you decided that you just had to have a little fumble with Jasper. Was it because he's the dirtiest one out of all of us? He's been around, as they say. Or was it just because you're simply a disgusting little _whore_?" His venom was spraying in my face and I sobbed and sobbed, praying to any deity who would listen to save me.

"WELL? Is it because I wouldn't touch you? Were you that desperate for a fuck-" the word sounded so wrong in his usually chivalrous tone that it seemed even more threatening-"That you _had to push Jasper_?"

I tried to shake my head, the tears spilling freely out of my eyes, but the grip on my neck tightened. I yelped, squirming frantically. Suddenly, his hand on my hip flicked upwards and before I could even scream, he had grabbed at my breast and squeezed. Hard.

I cried out in pain and he snarled. "ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WANTED, BELLA?"

"No!" I rasped, trying to scramble against him, but it proved fruitless as he just gripped onto my skin harder. Then, I felt it, something long and hard pressing against my stomach as he rubbed his body against mine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rosalie half collapse in Esme's arms, her beautiful face tortured as she watched her past, as she watched Edward rub his erection against my stomach as he groped me against my will.

Fury flickered in my body as I realized how sick this was getting. "_Get off me, fucker_!" I screamed at him.

He roared as he pinned me harder against the wall. I saw Carlisle step toward us, agonized just as Edward's torturing hand caught behind my body, squeezing my bottom I screamed in response and struggled against him, crying, "Help! Someone help! Rosalie!"

Rose stepped forward at my cry, but before she could come close, Edward growled fiercely. "I said it before and I'll say it again- if _any _of you move, I'll snap her neck like a tiny little twig. I mean it, Rosalie. I'll hear it in your thoughts and I will kill this whore before you can even come within six feet of us. Maybe if I'm feeling nice enough, I'll drain her on the floor and you can all join in!"

"You're a sick bastard!" Rosalie screamed, frozen in her spot either due to her fear of him or her fear for me. She knew I would die if she took a step closer to me, and so did I.

_Where was Jasper?_

**Jasper's POV**

The phone call from Rosalie had been pure torture. I had heard Rosalie's quiet warning to Emmett at first, and then _his _voice, his threatening tonality toward _my _Bella. I heard Alice say my name. And then I heard my personal hell on earth as I heard Bella's choking and the crashing against a solid wall while Edward growled.

I did not wait to see Emmett's reaction, I just turned and ran.

I was flying now, the trees giving way to my solid body as I raced through the forest, Emmett following somewhere behind me.

Bella was in danger and I had promised to protect her. I would not let her come to any harm, I couldn't live with that.

_If only I had ignored Carlisle and murdered that bastard a few nights ago._

But I hadn't.

_Damn it, Major. You know you should always trust your own instincts first! _I cursed myself. This was not how I had been trained, and Bella was being harmed. It was time that I take matters into my own hands.

I pushed myself even further forward as I came into hearing radius of the big white house, but I was still too far away to do any good. I could hear Bella's faint whimpers and Edward's snarls.

"I said it before and I'll say it again- if ANY of you move, I'll snap her neck like a tiny little twig," I heard Pussy Boy growl, "I mean it, Rosalie. I'll hear it in your thoughts and kill this whore before you can even come within six feet of me. Maybe, I'll drain her on the floor and you can all join in!"

What the fuck was going on?

"You're a sick bastard!" I heard Rosalie cry, her voice pained.

Bella was crying, she was hurt, but her sobs sounded strangled, like something was hindering her breathing. _That_ _bastard had his hands around her neck_! I growled, and pushed harder still. Emmett was running far behind me as I came into view of the river and leapt across in one long bound, my anger becoming power as I felt the darkness creeping at the edges of my vision.

_THAT MOTHER FUCKER WOULD PAY.  
_  
I crashed through the window, smashing his precious little piano into pieces as I snarled at the sight before me. Crouching into a defensive posture, I stalked towards him, noticing he held my mate up against the wall by her throat, pushing his body against her, his hand on her ass. Her eyes were agonized, and the pain and fear rolled off her in waves.

I roared, raising myself up, shaking the foundations of the house in a show of power.

That was the moment that Pussy Boy noticed I had lost focus on Bella.

That was the moment that his teeth sunk into her neck.

That was the moment that the screaming began.

NO! I thought, leaping towards him, ripping them apart. No thought, just instinct.

_Get my mate as far away from the bastard as possible._

Crush him. Crush him. Crush him.

She flew into the window like a ragdoll and the remaining vampires went to her, care and concern in their emotions. _They were no threat._

I would kill him. I would fucking torture him.

_Crush him. Crush him. Crush him._

He lay crumpled in a heap on the floor, suffocated by the weight of my anger. I began tearing his arm off, when -

"JASPER!" Bella screamed, her voice curdling at the end.

The black haze fell away from my eyes as I heard her pain. _Bella? Bella's hurt?_

I rushed toward her, where she lay on the ground, blood pouring out her neck in scarlet ribbons from where his teeth had sunken into her. Rosalie, Esme, Alice, and Emmett all backed away, their thirst flaming in their throats as they discussed what to do with Edward. I wanted to growl at them to wait for me, to let _me _murder him, to let me be the one to dance around his burning funeral pyre.

But that was not important right now. What was important was this broken girl, lying on the floor, with blood streaming from her throat from where he had severed her artery.

Carlisle was crouched next her, trying desperately to stem the bleeding on her neck as he pulled glass from her bloody arm simultaneously.

There was no burn in my throat for her blood, what I was experiencing was pure fear. "Carlisle, tell me what to do," I said, wide-eyed. He didn't look at me, too concentrated on his efforts to stop the bleeding on her arm.

"Jasper, you have to change her," he urged, his voice much calmer and steadier than his movements were. I hesitated a moment and looked into her eyes, holding them for a moment before watching them roll back into her head as she moaned my name.

"What if I can't?" I whispered, scared. I had done it before, for the newborn army, but with sporadic success. This was Bella. I had to be successful.

"Son, I know you can. She's your soul mate. If you do not do this now, she _will _die. She is losing too much blood. There is barely any venom in her system, if any at all. Jasper, she's dying."

There was no doubt. She was bone pale and every time she tried to speak, her voice rasped, unable to form words. Her heart stuttered as it tried to find blood to pump, her body was trying desperately to heal the deep wounds she had sustained. Her eyeballs rolled back into her head again as she groaned in pain.

"It hurts! Jasper, make it go away!" she screeched.

"I made you a promise, sweetheart," I said, as I felt for her tiny little hand. She squeezed mine lightly, still believing in me through all her pain and I knew I could do this.

I raised her hand to my mouth and bit into her wrist, injecting my venom into her veins. I repeated the procedure on her other wrist, in the crease of her elbows, the back of her knees, the other side of her neck before finally ripping off her tee shirt and biting directly over her heart. As I sat back on my knees, I heard it pump slowly in distress, a sudden stop, and finally, another beat as my venom began to clutch at her system.

At that moment, I knew it had begun. I waited, staring at her, hoping for some kind of definite confirmation that I'd done the right thing. Had I? Was it too late?

Had he hurt her too badly when he had tried to drain her? _Had I hurt her too badly throwing her into the window? Was this my fault?_

I glanced at Carlisle, who had left momentarily and returned just as quickly. He settled next to me on the floor and was now injecting her with what looked to be an incredibly high dosage of morphine. As he injected the medication into her arm, his eyes slowly swept over her body, assessing her. He exhaled in relief, clamped a hand to my shoulder and said, "I'm proud of you, son."

"Will she be okay?" I asked, unable to stop the words from coming out, the uncertainty and doubt.

"Listen to her heart," he insisted, pride and confidence in his emotions.

She would be fine. My girl would be fine.

At that moment, I heard a scuffle breaking out on the back lawn and I shot Carlisle a dark look but he shook his head, "Jasper, they'll deal with him. You need to be here."

I nodded, trying to tune out the faint emotions of fear and anger that radiated from the riverbanks. I would keep calm and pay attention to Bella, as she was my first priority. "She can't just stay here, should I take her to your study?"

He nodded professionally. "I will clear off the desk if you bring her upstairs."

When we had her laid out, I realized the situation outside had calmed down slightly and I felt the family walk at a human pace towards the house. I wondered if they had ripped Edward limb from limb like I would have, and how they were planning on explaining to me that they had gotten there first. They were probably walking so slowly for fear of my anger when they told me they had ended Pussy Boy instead of giving me the chance. They were wrong to think I would be so angry, I'd just be pissed that they had gotten there first.

"Will she be okay here, Carlisle?" I didn't like asking him so many questions, it made me feel weak, and out of control. The feeling of not being in control was the strangest and scariest feeling I had ever encountered. I needed to go and speak to the others, to find out how they had killed Edward and decide if it was good enough. I had never cared about the people I turned into vampires before, leaving the others was no problem, but this was different. She made me different.

Carlisle nodded without looking at me, checking Bella's pulse and I took it as permission to go and interrogate the others. I flew downstairs to find the four of them in a loose semi circle in the living room. All of them looked shifty and their emotions ranged from irritation to worry. Esme was frightened.

I realized then that I could not smell fire. Were they leaving the burning to me? It was stupid of them to leave the body parts outside. "Where did you leave him? It's not safe to just leave him on his own, whether he's assembled or not."

Rosalie cringed and muttered that sounded awfully like, "We know."

I frowned at her as I tried to pick apart her words. "What happened?"

It was Emmett who responded, scratching the back of his head nervously as he stared at the floor. "Well, I was holding him down while he screamed bloody murder about Bella being 'his' while we sort of tried to figure out what to do with the bastard when Alice suggested trying to calm him down before we did anything. I looked up to see if she was joking, like, why the hell should we give a shit what state of mind he's in, right?"

Emmett looked at me now for support to his statement, for some kind of support to fall back on when he delivered the blow. I nodded for him to continue. "I lost focus for just a half second, and the bastard took note. Before I could stop him, he had taken off with his arm and was across the river and running off into the forest!"

There was a moment of silence as I processed what he had said, calm before the storm... "You _lost _him?" I shouted, stepping forward.

Emmett shrank back, somehow appearing much smaller than I, his neck angled out towards me as he assumed a submissive position...

"What the actual _fuck_, Emmett? Do you realize now that Bella might have to live her vampire life constantly looking over her shoulder? He could just waltz right back in and try to hurt her again!" I was frustrated and worried for her mental health. The memory of Edward touching her flashed through my mind. I knew that as a vampire, being assaulted like that could seriously damage her. I couldn't help but think of Rosalie's circumstances and her inept ways of dealing with her past.

"I know that, you know I do. It's not like I meant to let go, Jasper! I was just talking to Alice and took my eyes off him for a fraction of a second!" he countered, his hands up in defense, protecting his cause.

_That fucking little psychic witch_.

I rounded on her with a growl so fast that she literally _jumped _as I blocked the light from her with my body. "_You!_ You _knew _he'd run off, didn't you? You did this on purpose, you twisted bitch! You set this up, didn't you? You set it up so he'd fucking run off!"

"I didn't do anything!" She tried to defend herself in the most piercing voice I had ever heard, but fear radiated through her despite the glare she attempted to give me.

Esme's small hand clutched at my arm as she pleaded, "No, Jasper! Alice would never have done this on purpose, it was just an accident! How was Alice supposed to know?"

"_Cause she's a fucking psychic little witch! She set up Edward attacking Bella!" _I snapped, grinding my teeth, trying with all my might not to act on the fury coursing through my frozen veins.

"You set up that whole encounter between Edward and Bella and then you set up Edward's escape. Didn't you, Alice? You and Edward always did like playing master puppeteer with us all, you filthy fucking _cunt_!" Rosalie spat, coming to stand just behind my right shoulder, taking up the Captain's position, snarling in Alice's direction.

Alice quivered under Rosalie's glare, but was taken aback as Emmett stepped in front of her and crossed his arms. Emmett was stepping to _her defense? _"You two are being paranoid! This isn't Alice's fault, there would've been no way the two of them could've choreographed this. You're letting your hate get in the way of our _family_!" Emmett yelled, his booming voice reverberating through the house.

"_What the fuck, Emmett? Why are you defending HER? She's about as much of our family as Doucheward is!" _Rosalie screamed shrilly in her husband's face.

Look what you've done," I growled at Alice, watching without a care as venom welled up in her eyes. I _could _feel her remorse, though I was unsure on whether it was directed at me, Rosalie, Bella or maybe even Edward. "Now, Emmett and Rose are fighting. Did you plan that too?"

"No! I didn't mean to cause all this, I genuinely didn't know this would happen! You need to forgive me! The entire situation with Edward attacking Bella, I can explain that, but it's all gone wrong!" Alice cried. If I was being honest with myself, I was able to _sense_ her pain, but I couldn't feel it or its effects on me through my fury.

"She didn't know what she was doing, Jasper. Please, let's just calm down. We don't need to be fighting anymore! What she did was wrong, but let's at least deal with this logically and work through it as a _family_!" Esme plead as she pulled on my arm, trying desperately to get me to see reason.

I felt Rosalie's resolve falter at Esme's pleas and I knew I was alone in my anger. I would have to cave soon. "She hurt my Bella," I stated, still glaring at Alice.

"I know she did sweetheart, but she's very _sorry_. _Aren't you, Alice_?" Esme stressed in Alice's direction.

Alice nodded and I knew that she _was _sorry for what had happened. The problem was that I didn't know what it was that she was sorry for. Was she sorry for Bella's current state, or for getting caught? I knew that I would have to give her the benefit of the doubt, but not for her, for my family and for the sake of peace at the moment.

I was torn. This could be disastrous for all of us, but I knew that Emmett, at least, hadn't meant for this to happen and he was genuinely sorry. Suddenly I felt very fatigued, and I let out a deep breath of air. "I know this isn't anyone's fault. I'm just worried, and I'm sorry."

Emmett nodded at me and Alice smiled weakly, but they both sent me feelings of forgiveness. While I didn't give a shit about Alice's feelings, I was thankful for Emmett's. Esme let out a sigh of relief at the exchange, her posture relaxing for the first time.

I couldn't afford to get emotional right now, as this interaction had to be both diplomatic and professional. We had to get our shit together and plan the next move. "Do we know which way he headed?"

"East, straight over the mountains. We didn't bother chasing him; he was gone before we could even consider it."Rosalie reported, her voice matter-of-fact."He'll be too far out for us to catch him now."

"FUCK!" I roared, kicking a large fragment of his stupid piano straight through the hole in the window I had made when I forced myself into the house. Esme gave me a look that was both apologetic and disapproving. I couldn't help but laugh. She was so maternal, even at the most inopportune moments. . "Esme, I'll replace the window, I promise."

"I know, sweetheart," she said, coming to hug me and God of War or not, I felt better with her arms around me.

Maybe, just maybe things would be okay. Maybe, Edward's departure could be seen as more of a blessing than a threat. There would be nothing to hold Bella back. Maybe, this would be the last we would see of Pussy Boy and we could move on in our lives.

Unfortunately, I highly doubted it, but now with the trouble gone and Bella's transition taking place, the biggest problem was the hole in the window wall and Esme's irritation with it.

Was it too much to hope that this was the end of our troubles?

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**A/N: So, do you think it's the end of their troubles? What do you think Alice's motives are? Is she just an interfering know it all or a troublemaker? **

**Also, I'm so sorry that this took a little longer to come out! I love hearing from you guys and thank you so much for how many of you have taken to this story.**

**Review and tell me what you thought! :)  
**

**Continue to love Jasper! Until next time, people! :)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

_**DISCLAIMER – I own nothing! Except lots of stress. Stress sucks.  
**_

**__****Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence.**  


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******Thanks to mynxi for being wonderful and patient with me and for dealing with my exam stress and being so capable at Beta-ing my stuff. **

**Dear bloodofbeckie, thank you for being such an amazing friend and Beta and for loving me unconditionally, no matter how many times I put 'towards' instead of 'toward'.  
**

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_We watched the sun go down but never fear the end,  
_

_because I know even in darkness we're more than friends.  
_

_**- Gabrielle Aplin, More Than Friends**  
_

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**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 7:**

_"East, straight over the mountains. We didn't bother chasing him; he was gone before we could even consider it."Rosalie reported, her voice matter-of-fact."He'll be too far out for us to catch him now."_

_"FUCK!" I roared, kicking a large fragment of his stupid piano straight through the hole in the window I had made when I forced myself into the house. Esme gave me a look that was both apologetic and disapproving. I couldn't help but laugh. She was so maternal, even at the most inopportune moments. . "Esme, I'll replace the window, I promise."_

_"I know, sweetheart," she said, coming to hug me and God of War or not, I felt better with her arms around me._

_Maybe, just maybe things would be okay. Maybe, Edward's departure could be seen as more of a blessing than a threat. There would be nothing to hold Bella back. Maybe, this would be the last we would see of Pussy Boy and we could move on in our lives._

_Unfortunately, I highly doubted it, but now with the trouble gone and Bella's transition taking place, the biggest problem was the hole in the window wall and Esme's irritation with it._

_Was it too much to hope that this was the end of our troubles?_

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**Jasper's POV  
**  
A few hours into Bella's transformation, we realised that we were going to have to explain Bella's disappearance somehow; we were going to have to fake her death.

Alice reminded us many times that if it wasn't for her; we would be in deep shit- Bella was supposed to be in Seattle today so we had about 6 hours to plot her death. Alice continues to spit out phrases like she'd "totally seen this coming", and she "knew this was what was meant to be".

I couldn't help but notice that Rosalie's fists clenched every time Alice tried to justify her actions. Rosalie was very worried, as was I, about the effects of Edward's groping on Bella's mental state. Oblivious, Alice ranted on. "I _am _sorry that I lied to her, but _I_ know how these things are meant to work out. _I_knew that she needed to at least speak to Edward in order to become one of us, so I don't know why you're peeved, Rosalie. It was for the greater good."

Carlisle took note of the murderous gleam in Rosalie's eyes and decided to intervene. "So, Alice, how do we fake her death?"

He was so reliant on Alice's visions, we all were, and I could see how that was a serious problem now. For the time being, I would overlook it, as we needed her assistance.

"I have a plan," she stated as her eyes glinted mischievously.

The plan was a simple one and involved no one getting hurt. Esme had already gone and redressed Bella from her bloody clothes and into new ones. Alice instructed her to put them on and to drive to the Ship Canal Bridge near Seattle in Bella's truck. There, she was to put in brown contact lenses and leave some identification in the cab with a note on that dashboard that read -  
_  
"I'm sorry, I can't do this. I can't pretend anymore. I don't know who I am or what I am. The man I loved is lost and the ones I love have turned away._

And so, I leave this life with the knowledge that my mother loved her new husband more than she loved me, and that my father only fought to see me once a year and could not tear himself away from his fishing trips to spend more time with me. I turn away from this life a broken shell. Perhaps I can find love in the heavens.

Just know that I tried. But the darkness chases me everywhere I go and now, I hope to ascend to a place where pain and suffering do not exist.

And remember,

I loved you more."

Esme was then to go to the edge of the bridge, where cars would begin slowing down to watch, incredulous and horrified at what was happening. Unable to tear their eyes away, people would begin to get out, calling "Miss, come back from there, it isn't safe!" but Esme was to look at them, whisper "I know," then to jump from the edge, her hands holding her wig in place and she would drop 54 feet into the ocean and not resurface.

Once underwater, she would remove the bloodied jacket that Bella had worn when Edward attacked her and swim along the bed of Puget Sound until she reached a spot secluded enough to run home.

Alice foresaw no issues and that the police would contact Charlie personally, already knowing him. He would be heartbroken but unsurprised. "She was a very fragile, unbalanced little thing," would be his response to any questions.

The search and rescue team would find the bloody jacket torn the next day and would declare her "missing, presumed dead" after an extensive search. Charlie and Renee would make no additional attempts to find her body as they would presume it mangled, due to the amount of blood on her ripped jacket. The authorities would suggest it, but both parents would feel too guilty after reading the suicide note and decline the offer of a continued search.

It was harsh but it was the only way.

"Poor girl, she was always quiet, wasn't she?" People would whisper in a hushed tone as the news spread like wildfire among the nosy locals.

As Esme prepared for the trip, Carlisle went to work so as not to arouse suspicion. We needed to try to make things appear as natural as possible, as if none of us had known how much she suffered.

Alice foresaw that as on the day of the funeral, people would not be shocked from the news that Edward would not be present, having moved to the home of family friends in Alaska, unable to face the guilt of what he had done. Furthermore, they would be unsurprised that 'the blond one who always looks like he's in pain," had accompanied him for support.

Even the wolves would be unsurprised as Jacob told them of the confusion Bella had been suffering and that she had been beginning to feel suffocated. The rest of the family was to attend the funeral that would take place in about a week's time.

Upon Esme's departure, Alice came to my perch in Carlisle's study by Bella's bedside, handing me a set of papers - divorce papers. I was indifferent to the whole situation and I let her know by signing them lazily after reading through them quickly. I forced a bored look upon my face as she watched me closely with apprehension in her eyes. She was confused, probably due to my lack of interest in the whole situation. Alice liked to be the center of attention even more so than Rosalie, but at least Rose could admit it.

I didn't even bother to speak to her as I handed her the paperwork. I was still furious with the bitch for manipulating Bella into getting sexually assaulted just because she thought it was an opportune moment for her to be changed.

After Alice left, I remained still, watching Bella's transformation, taking note of the gash on her arm and bite mark on her neck healing before my eyes. Of course, the bite mark on her neck would never fully heal but fortunately, it was situated more around the back of her neck than the front and would always be well hidden by her hair.

She would now be my bonded mate also, as it was my venom that coursed through her veins and. A primal satisfied growl escaped my lips as I realized this.

_Mine_.

Around late afternoon, I heard Esme running up the back lawn and I ran downstairs to meet her. I found that Emmett had already repaired the broken window and cleared up the fragments of piano that had been scattered about the room.

"How did it go?" I asked her, as she rushed upstairs.

"I just need to change out of these wet clothes! I'll be right back!"

I presumed they would've dried in the breeze from running back, but now that I thought about it, she'd taken a long time to run back just from Puget Sound.

By the time she came back downstairs, towel drying her hair, we had all gathered in the living room onto the sofas. She gave us all a brilliant smile as she came over to join us. "It went perfectly. I decided to swim up the Skokomish river, right up into the mountains and then cross over to the Sol Duc river. I just waded and swam the whole way down so I could completely wash away the scent, just in case the wolves came looking."

I nodded at her approvingly. "That was a brilliant idea, Esme."

She beamed in response. "I just want the best for my children. Bella is a part of our family now."

Charlie called Carlisle the next afternoon making several sly comments about Edward but mostly sounding exhausted and utterly heartbroken. I felt bad for him but sadly, there had been no other way to go about this. Bella's note had to make him feel guilty enough to not want to find the body.

Carlisle told Charlie how much he loved Bella and offered our family's continued and constant support. Charlie had thanked him and invited the family to the funeral in a solemn tone that lightened slightly when Carlisle mentioned that Edward and I would not be able to attend.

With that done, Charlie hung up, and we took a deep breath as we finally removed ourselves from the hooks we had been dangling from.

***  
As the sun rose the next day, I was again at Bella's bedside. I had planted myself there after Esme's return and I began noticing changes in Bella. Her hair had grown slightly, and was now a waving and curling tangle, glowing chestnut in the sunlight.

Her muscles were hardening under elongated limbs, an untainted white sheen now glazing her skin. Her eyelashes framed her now lavender colored eyelids. Despite the morphine that paralyzed her, I could still feel her pain, a terrifying and unbearable pain that makes you feel as if your body is being roasted on an acidic fire.

She would be a newborn in twenty four hours, so her suffering wouldn't be much longer. Would she still be the same Bella, the one who recently had started not taking shit from others? Or would we be back to the same frightened, weak little girl?

Had Edward truly damaged her? At that moment, I vowed to make things okay.

By the morning of the next day, the family had gathered in the study to watch Bella's awakening, Emmett and myself in the front.

We listened in silence as her heartbeats grew faster and wilder, her perfect vampire body killing the final traces of humanity it could find.

Suddenly, the room was silent. Her heart had given in to the fire.

A few seconds passed and suddenly, her eyes flew open. She sat up from the desk, her crimson eyes wide in alarm as she took us all in.

I felt her alarm turn to comfort as she registered our faces and very slowly, she got off Carlisle's desk, standing ten feet from me.

God, she had been beautiful before, but the woman standing in front of me was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen.

I inched forward toward her hesitantly, unable to stop myself. I could feel the pull drawing me closer, begging me to touch her.

Her burgundy eyes locked on mine as she stepped forward to meet me halfway. When we were a foot apart, she reached her hand up to my face and traced a scar around my left eyebrow.

"Jasper." It sounded like music as her lips formed my name.

"Yes?" I whispered from under her spell, allowing her feather light fingers to trace the bite marks that ravaged my skin. She was not frightened or fearful of them like other vampires. Even Alice, during our most intimate moments used to cringe away and close her eyes at the sight of them.

It did not escape my notice that it was _my _name that was the first thing she said as she woke in this new life.

"Jasper," she said again with reverence, eyes darting to see every aspect of my face.

"Isabella." Her name was a prayer on my lips.

She was so controlled, and I wondered how she was doing it. Was her throat not flaming?

"Bella, how are you doing this?" Carlisle had stolen my question. He was utterly astounded.

"Doing what?" she asked, confused. She was so natural, acting as if she was years into this life rather than mere minutes.

"Being so calm! A newborn should be ravaged by thirst. You should only be able to concentrate on the burn in your throat, not on your mate in front of you!" Carlisle sounded as shocked as I felt.

"I don't really feel a burn, though. It just itches," she responded. Her head snapped to me quickly, but she shrugged nonchalantly. "Huh, guess I'm a dud, right?"

"Of course not, you're fine," I soothed. "Shall we go for a hunt? I want to see you take out a mountain lion, sweetheart."

I winked and she laughed, a gorgeous sound, wind chimes in the breeze.

Emmett had grown tired of waiting his turn and stormed forward with his arms outstretched to hug his new sister, roaring excitedly like an overgrown bear.

Before I knew what was happening, Bella had thrown herself into my arms, causing me to stagger backwards slightly. I looked in awe through the shimmering dome as Emmett ran straight into it, stopping as a human would upon hitting a wall of concrete.

"What is _this_?" Emmett stared at the shimmering air that had blocked him. He was fascinated as he pushed a hand toward the air where it stopped upon contact. Emmett pushed at the concrete air with all his might, clearly frustrated. He was so used to being the strongest that he could not handle being beaten by "thin air". He growled and Bella whimpered in my shoulder, fear filling her as she buried herself in my neck, terrified.

"Emmett, enough. You're scaring her," I ordered, my voice sharp, as I held Bella in my arms. He stopped and gazed in wonder just like the others at the clear shield.

_A shield_, it suddenly occurred to me. Bella is a complete shield.

"Bella has a physical shield?" Emmett asked, his head cocked like a puppy as he pondered this. "She's already got her weird mental one."

I was projecting calm and security onto Bella, focusing my energies on her.

"Of course she does! It makes sense, doesn't it? After what Edward did to her, it must have affected her more than we thought," Rosalie concluded. Sufficed to say, I thought she was right. I was too busy projecting calm and security onto Bella and focusing my energies on her to answer him, but Rosalie spoke up.

"That's an interesting theory, Rose. You're right, it would make sense. If Bella also has a mental shield, it would not surprise me that if upon being assaulted, her body evolved into a mental one," Carlisle considered, his eyes bright with the prospect of new information.

Emmett was staring through the shield at Bella, heartbroken that she would perceive him as a threat. "He really hurt her, didn't he?" The question he asked was rhetorical as his face devastated as he leaned forward toward his sister. "Bella?" he asked gently.

She turned to him a little, looking through her hair. She was still cowering against me fearfully as she tried to locate the threat.

"You think I'd hurt you, little sister?" he asked with a kind gaze, his hand outstretched and a gentle smile on his face.

She shook her head as her wariness disappeared, staring at him now.

"Can I have a big bear hug then?"

The shield dispersed and she ran out of my arms and straight into Emmett's. He cradled her and ruffled her hair. She ducked and he chuckled at her blindingly fast movements.

Esme, Carlisle, and Rosalie stepped forward for their turn to hug her then, whispers of "welcome to the family," and "love you, Bella" gracing the room. I merely stood and watched as she was passed from each member of the family, feeling slightly intoxicated by the amount of euphoria in the room.

We would be just fine.

The hunt had gone extremely well and she was incredibly graceful, something she joked about the whole trip. Rosalie and Emmett accompanied us and we chased beating hearts through the gloom of the forest.

After our hunt, the girls challenged me to wrestle a mountain lion one handed. Rosalie and Bella had exchanged a very peculiar and knowing grin, and shrugging it off, I suffocated the beast in the crook of my arm as its ferocious teeth caressed my skin.

I watched as Bella took down her first buck, soaring through the air and draining the beast with an ease and grace that had been previously exclusive to a decades old vampire.

We arrived back at the house, laughing and joking in the same way we had the day of truth or dare, which now felt like centuries ago.

Alice was sitting on the sofa, looking very much on the edge of things. Abruptly, I felt conviction in Bella as she stalked forwards to Alice, sitting next to her. She wrapped an arm around her and squeezing, hard, her newborn strength a danger to even the strongest vampire. It was no surprise that Alice squirmed and squeaked an "ouch!"

"Hey, _girlfriend! _I think we need to talk, to be honest with each other," Bella said sweetly, her anger and amusement staining her tone and her emotions. She sounded murderous and although Alice showed no reaction except a blank expression, I felt her fear.

"So, you wanna tell me _why the fuck _you put me in that situation with Edward, babe?" Bella spat, still smiling. She sounded so much like Alice that it was frightening. The way her crimson eyes fixed on Alice made Esme shiver from where she was stood behind us.

"I... well I just... it's like-,"Alice stuttered, now clearly disturbed by Bella's proximity and the clear fury.

"Like what, Alice?" Bella was pushing her now, inching closer to Alice with a deadly smile on her face.

"I just _knew _that you were meant to become a vampire that way and so you could get your physical shield. I knew you were going to Seattle so we had a perfect excuse to cause your death and I knew that Edward would attack you and obviously, Jasper was going to save you. I really did think you needed a chance to see just how bad Edward is, Bella; I only did it because you're my best friend and I love you. Please don't hate me! Sometimes, we women have to suffer for our beauty." She rambling and trying to joke her way out of this, but it was the most stupid thing she could have done.

Bella growled in her face. "_I had to be sexually assaulted by my ex-boyfriend to become beautiful?" _she roared, her venom spraying all over Alice's cowering face.

"No, I was joking! It's just that I knew it was the fastest way to go! I did this for you!" Alice tried to justify, jumping up onto her feet and backing away from Bella, her hands outstretched in surrender as she backed toward the stairs. Esme was getting more and more agitated at the sight of her daughters now and I knew that Bella would not be able to truly carry out the vengeance she wished to.

"Fuck you, you little _rat! _You make me sick. You're just jealous because Jasper doesn't want you anymore and because everyone can see through your little act," she snarled, pursuing Alice rhythmically, with dangerous steps across the room. Every step screamed "danger!" to everyone in the room. An angry newborn had rendered everyone immobile. . I knew that Carlisle probably expected me step in between them before Bella could hurt Alice, but I would not be the one to break them up. Alice deserved this and Bella needed to show that little elf that she couldn't fuck with us anymore because we wouldn't take her shit

"There is no act. I just love you all! I can see now it was wrong and I'll never do it again, I promise!" Alice begged, _stumbling – a vampire never stumbled – _backwards cowering on the stairs as Bella snarled over her.

We all waited. Esme stepped toward Bella. "Bella, stop," she ordered, such a maternal strong note in her voice that Bella's head snapped up out of her rage. "Please, honey. Alice didn't mean to, she's your sister! Don't...don't fight? Please?" The pleading note to her voice caused Bella's voice to subside as she glanced from Esme to Alice.

"Mom, she knew Edward was going to hurt me," Bella whispered in Esme's direction. The broken girl was breaking through the facade she was holding up, the facade of being okay with Edward's attack.

"I know, sweetie. But she isn't Edward. You don't need to take your anger out on her, baby. Come here," Esme soothed, her arms outstretched. Alice was relieved as she watched Bella soften. Bella's eyes were filled with venom as she shot Alice one last dark look and ran into Esme's arms, dry sobbing.

Esme whispered to her and shushed her softly, her hands stroking Bella's hair as she cried. Alice genuinely did feel a little remorse as she watched Bella fall apart and she stood up slowly, her gaze averted from everyone. This was smart, as I was pretty sure Emmett and Rose were ready to kill her. Rose was seething but she was too focused on Bella at the moment to care very much about Alice.

"I think we all need to calm down, children. There are many more important things that we need to discuss rather than fighting amongst ourselves. Bella's show of self-control is incredible, but Alice, you must not push her. What you did was very wrong but I understand how much of a burden it can be to hold so much information and to have to decide whether to take action upon it," Carlisle said, smiling kindly at Alice. She beamed up at him, happy that she was still accepted by the father of our coven. I tried very hard not to roll my eyes. Carlisle's compassion and Esme's love and devotion could not comprehend the idea that what Alice had done could possibly be malicious. But this time, they were wrong and I didn't know how much longer I could handle their patronising ways of treating us as naughty children anymore.

Carlisle went to sit at the head of the dining room table and beckoned for us all to join him. We did warily, Esme sitting to his right and me with a sniffling Bella holding my hand on his left. Her hand in mine allowed the pull between us to settle for the time being.

"Now, the first issue we need to address is the location of the family," he said, leaning forward with his elbows against the dark wood of the table. "Bella obviously cannot be so near to town and cannot remain here. The first reason is that hunting so close to the trails could be dangerous for all involved. The second is if people were to come looking, any suspicious behavior could cause a lot of trouble.

"Now, for obvious reasons, not all of us can leave. I have my job at the hospital and Alice has school. Esme is part of the community too, and if we were to leave suddenly, it would arouse suspicion in light of Bella's recent passing. We need to remain here. Jasper, you will have to go with Bella anyway to help her through her newborn stage. Rosalie and Emmett can help you; they're only supposed to be in Seattle so people will not notice their absences."

I was only too happy to spend more time with her and have the excuse of tending to her newborn needs as a way to escape Alice.

"This means the family will have to be separated during the week while Alice, Esme and I continue our duties here. We will come to you wherever you are during the weekend and once Alice graduates we will join you permanently, , claiming that it is just too hard to live in the same town as Bella's memory."

"Where will we go then?" I asked.

"Well, I think as a family, we should all make that decision together. Esme, where would you like to go?"

"I think the Mount Rainier house is the best option for Bella. It's secluded, has a lot of wildlife, is already set up and is near enough Forks that we can get there quickly and that the scenario is familiar." Esme was always thinking about her children, the newest addition to her family was no exception.

Carlisle nodded at her, diplomatic as ever. "Rosalie?"

"I think we should go to the house in New Hampshire. I think Bella would love Hanover!" Rosalie grinned at Bella, who grinned back. Their friendship had only solidified through the change.

"Emmett?"

"Ontario, come on! I love moose!"

"Alice."

_Here we go_, I thought. I felt Rosalie and Bella's irritation also - we knew it would be a selfish answer and none of us, save for Carlisle and Esme particularly cared at all for Alice's opinion.

She beamed a sickly sweet smile at Carlisle as she tried to twist him around her tiny little pinkie finger. "Thank you, Carlisle. _I _think we should go to New York! Bella would _love _all the shopping and she'd love the townhouse."

I snorted and she glared at me. Bella's irritation only flared but she did not react to Alice's words at all. This sounded much more like Alice's dream. How had I not seen how selfish she was before?

"Jasper?"

"The Mount Rainier house is perfect for tending to a newborn's needs and I think it's the most beautiful of all our homes. Bella would love it," I said pointedly in Alice's direction.

"I agree, if I'm being honest. Does anyone have a problem with the Mount Rainier home? We need to cater to _Bella's_needs," Carlisle said, his emphasis on Bella's name in Alice's direction, where she sat with her arms folded tightly across her torso, still glaring at me.

Everyone was happy with the Rainier home, save for the midget witch who oozed irritation and huffed out a sharp nod.

It was decided, we were heading to Mount Rainier to begin the next chapter of our lives, and I couldn't help but wonder what kind of journey Bella and I were undertaking.

**Edward's POV**

I waited for her at the witching hour in a small clearing, the moonlight staining the trees a ghostly shade of gray. I could hear her running, a light little thing on her feet and I could hear her agitated thoughts as she blurred through the undergrowth.

She walked into the clearing, her eyes darting around as she took me in. She slowly walked to me, her posture defensive. I could hear it in her thoughts that she was mesmerized by me and the way I looked.

_Silly girl, _I thought, smiling darkly at her as I smelled her arousal.

"I have some information for you," I told her. "And I think you're going to like it very much."

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**A/N: Who do you think Edward was talking to? And what did you think of Bella telling Alice off? Let me know what you thought and review!**

**Also, I've got a lot of studying to do at the minute with a lot of exams coming up so I'm sorry if it takes me a little longer to update, guys! I know you'll all be wonderful though about it, so thanks for your patience and thanks for being patient with me getting this chapter out too! Love you guys! :)  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! Even my earphones are disintegrating and soon I'll be left cranky and without music.  
_**

**_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

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**Thank you to Mynxi for Beta-ing this like, last month before my exams when I was on top of this posting. Which I am not, right now.  
**

**Also thanks to bloodofbeckie for being fantastic. She's moved and we've both been busy but I miss her a lot and I've barely spoke to her. Bex, get back in my life!  
**

**Go check out their stuff!  
**

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_And I was overwhelmed,_

_and frankly scared as hell_

_because I really fell for you.  
_

**_- Train, Drive By_**

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**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 8:  
**

_**Edward's POV**_

_I waited for her at the witching hour in a small clearing, the moonlight staining the trees a ghostly shade of gray. I could hear her running, a light little thing on her feet and I could hear her agitated thoughts as she blurred through the undergrowth._

_She walked into the clearing, her eyes darting around as she took me in. She slowly walked to me, her posture defensive. I could hear it in her thoughts that she was mesmerized by me and the way I looked._

_Silly girl, I thought, smiling darkly at her as I smelled her arousal._

_"I have some information for you," I told her. "And I think you're going to like it very much."_

* * *

**Bella's POV**

Watching the sun rise on the day of your funeral is a pretty rare occurrence, in my opinion. So when the day came around, a week after my awakening, as can be expected, I was full of mixed emotions and therefore driving Jasper crazy.

"Bella, you _have _to tell me what the hell is going through your mind!" he exploded, making everyone jump as we all sat watching the morning television shows.

I sighed; it was hard to explain how you felt about your funeral. "I'm just thinking about how you guys all get to go to my funeral and I kind of want to, but I don't. I'm wondering what people will say about me. But most of all, I feel guilty and sad for my parents. Having to go to your child's funeral must be the most painful thing in the world," I stated, seeing Esme flinch out of the corner of my eye.

"It _is _hard, Bella. Losing a child is the most painful thing I've ever experienced," she admitted, coming to sit by me to squeeze my hand. "But they'll get through it and be strong. This is _not _your fault so don't feel guilty."

I smiled weakly. She was right. It wasn't my fault. I had to stop feeling guilty for things that weren't in my control; that was what Old Bella did. New Bella just didn't take crap. "I just feel like I've put Charlie through enough. He's my dad, and he's been a brilliant dad these past two years. I just wish I'd got the chance to say good bye." I sat back, relaxing into the sofa and exhaling, wondering what people would say, what people would feel.

_Would they cry?_

Jasper would not be going, and we would take the opportunity to head to the Mount Rainier home together and get settled in. Rose and Emmett would be joining us several days later. There was a very good chance it was just to give Jasper and me some alone time.

I watched my family get ready for my funeral, all in black. Esme looked as if she could cry real tears in both empathy and sympathy for my parents.

Rosalie looked sombre as she prepared to say goodbye to my human life. She put on some stilettos and I walked over to wrap my arms around her. She hugged me back in silence as I rested my head on her shoulder. How had she ever _not _been my best friend? We held each other like sisters and when I looked up, she was smiling at me, a sad look in her eyes as she said, "I never wanted you to have to watch me do this, Bella. I never wanted you to have to watch us all go to your funeral. I wanted to be able to go to your funeral, a funeral where your family were crying and your husband was heartbroken. I'd slip in and say I knew you from college. You could've _lived _your life."

She paused then and her eyes lit up a little as she laughed, "I wanted to say goodbye to you when you were actually _in _the damn coffin!" I giggled then too.

"Rosalie, I _am _living my life, here with you! You are my family. I see your point about crying, but as a vampire, you can't cry so what can we do?" I told her and I stuck my tongue out at her. She smiled, despite herself.

"You'll always be my sister," she smiled, squeezing my hand.

"Stop getting all emotional, girlies, we already know Bella's not dead, jeez!" Emmett whined, clearly trying to lighten the mood but failing as Esme shrieked, "Emmett!" slapping him across the back of his head.

"I'm just trying to cheer everyone up! Like, at least we've still got our girl. What we're grieving for here is her human life, not her soul," Emmett excused, walking up to his wife and kissing her forehead as he whispered, "She's still here, Rosie."

"We're also grieving for her family and friends and the lack of interactions they will have with her," Carlisle added, coming down the stairs straightening out his shirt collar. "Alice, come downstairs! We're not waiting for you again! This day is for Bella's family and grieving for_ her_, it's not a fashion show!"

Things in the family had grown tense. Jasper, Rose, myself, and even Emmett now had taken to flat out ignoring Alice for her participation in Edward's attack, only answering when she spoke to us. If I was honest, I barely ever answered when she spoke to me.

Esme and Carlisle were a little more lenient. They were sharp with her but their kind, compassionate, and forgiving characters did not have it in them to feel as angry as we did. They had already lost Edward and did not want to lose anymore family members but that did not stop them from putting her in her place more.

Alice flitted downstairs, a bright smile on her face.

_Bitch, _I thought. I mean, I knew it wasn't a real funeral but if she carried that sickly sweet smile into the church, people would either think something was going on or that we hated each other. Maybe the latter wouldn't be so bad.

When they departed, Jasper and I gathered our things together, with me borrowing a lot of clothes from Rose. Thankfully after my change, my figure had filled out considerably in all the right places so they were a much better fit.

I managed to gather all my belongings in a large drawstring bag which was slung on my shoulders as I went to meet Jasper in the foyer. He came to kiss my forehead, whispering, "beautiful".

Things with us were complicated. The pull burned inside me when he was away and I knew I had fallen in love with him. He was everything I could have ever dreamed of. We continued with the displays of affection but neither of us had gotten enough alone time to discuss "us" properly. Which I presumed was why we were being given the gift of isolation now.

And the gift of isolation was the best thing that could've been received at the moment.

Because I did want Jasper.

I wanted him to be mine.

We had been running southeast for little under three hours through the sprawling expanse of greenery and the pattering of the rain on the earthy forest floor, ghosting up a slight incline when suddenly Jasper came to a stop.

I stopped too, watching as he turned to me, reaching out a hand in my direction, a suitcase in his other. I took it and walked forward where the gloom of the trees dissipated to make way for a large clearing backed up against the foot of the mountains.

There stood the house.

Like all the Cullen houses, it was incredibly large, a three storey log building, although the logs themselves were almost totally obscured by the abundance of windows. A large deck wrapped around the bottom floor.

He led me up the porch steps and inside into a large open plan room that was bright and spacious. A large wide staircase grandly flourished at the end of this large main room up to a balcony that stretched across the upper floor leading across to the left and the right wing. A large fireplace was backed up against the left wall whilst three sofas gathered around a granite coffee table angled towards a huge plasma screen TV on the wall. The long onyx dining room table stood to the right of the staircase and the door to the kitchen was to the left of it. The house was elegant, yet rustic.

"It's beautiful!" I gasped, taking it all in with my clearly defined vision. I could see millions of dust motes swirling around in the air. Light seemed to spill in from every corner of the house, adding a welcoming touch to the home. It was like the other house, except this one seemed more inviting with all its warm, natural colours. Although it had not been lived it for a while, it was full of life.

Jasper showed me to the spare room to the left that was to become mine; it had panoramic views on two window walls of the forest and of the mountains and a large double bed stood proudly as the main feature of the room and an en suite bathroom. The rest of the room appeared to be a blank canvas, ready to paint my personality on to, for which I was extremely glad of the opportunity to put a bit of me into my room - like my one back home, maybe?

It took a few hours for Jasper and I to get in to both living together and being alone and it was tense, but after Jasper and I had cleaned and chatted and exchanged the occasional quick, sweet kiss, I felt much more comfortable.

We received a phone call from the whole family late that night, the window wall reflecting the flames dancing from the fire that Jasper had very _carefully _lit a few hours ago - more for ambience than anything. I had taken the opportunity to mock him about his love of "ambience" but he had merely remarked that it could affect emotions in a room more than people realised.

"It was a very emotional funeral, Bella. You do not realise just how loved you were," Carlisle told me, repeating Charlie's heartbreaking speech about how he wish he'd looked after me the way I'd looked after him. Emmett lightened the mood explaining how Jessica Stanley had described quietly to Lauren how she'd always known I was "unhinged".

Apparently, Jacob had cried boldly for the loss of his best friend and had shaken Carlisle's hand in his emotion, united in their strong bonds with me. Even Phil had managed to make it out and had comforted my distraught, guilt ridden mother. Carlisle had been invited to make a speech but politely declined, worried about people's reactions and afraid to spoil the personal words that had already been spoken.

The reception involved many of the young people turning the event into a party, to which Charlie and his deputy with great pleasure, and a grim smirk arrested Lauren Mallory for being "drunk and disorderly". I could not have respected Charlie Swan more in that moment.

Rosalie had found it the most difficult but was gleeful in the fact that Alice was struggling with being momentarily blind due to the werewolves' presence.

I ended the call drowning under mixed emotion and I wanted to just slip under the waves of unconsciousness and sleep it off, but I could not. Instead, I crawled very bravely into Jasper's lap, where he held me silently and we remained motionless until dawn's early light blazed over the mountain tops.

That day, he took me tree climbing, braving Mount Rainier, and wading in the nearby river that meandered through the forest. We swam and splashed and raced our way through the water, twisting our agile bodies in with the river's current, following its path before we reached civilisation.

When we returned home, soaked, sometime during the late evening where the weak sun was sliding from the grace of its perch, slipping behind the trees, I went for a shower and got changed. I could hear Jasper playing music downstairs so I went to the balcony above the main room to see what he was up to.

As I looked down, I saw him looking up at me, hand towards me and he said, "Isabella, would you do me the honor of dancing with me tonight?"

"No," I replied cuttingly, but I still glided downstairs, taking his hand as he led me to the middle of the room. His iPod was plugged into his iHome on the coffee table, playing the music that ran a beat through the veins of the big house. "I don't dance, Jasper."

He took my waist and kissed my forehead as he held my hand up, "No, but _I _can dance, so you just have to let me lead you and look pretty, you're not bad at that so far."

Just then, a song I recognised came on, "_Hero Heroine_" by BoyslikeGirls and suddenly we were dancing.

He mouthed the line, "_this is how I do when I think about you_", at me and he smiled, giving me butterflies.

Suddenly, his face became slightly more serious.

_I never thought that you could break me apart; I keep a sinister smile and a hole in my heart._

"Bella, we need to talk about something," he murmured, his voice no louder than the song lyrics swirling in the air.

"What?"

"The pull. I have to tell you what it is."

I heard my sharp intake of breath as we continued to dance to the beat, to the drum. "What is it?"

"Bella, vampires are very strange creatures. We mate for life, but you know this. Have you ever heard of the term,_ soul mates_?" The words sounded familiar, like something inside me was stirring at his words.

"No. Not with reference to vampires."

"It's very complicated and very rare." He was staring at me now, his eyes blazing, a deep sincerity and raw emotion etched into his face.

_I got a closet filled up to the brim, with the ghosts of my past and the skeletons._

He continued then, his words lacing and threading with the song lyrics. "Carlisle said the only other known pair he knew of was Marcus of the Volturi and his mate. She died and his world fell apart, he is a lifeless man.

You see, soul mates are _literally _made for each other, their souls matching like a puzzle piece. Their strength is fuelled by the other's presence and requited love. They're drawn to each other by a pull that connects them and their mutual feelings for one another. The pull is a defense mechanism, Carlisle says, so we can harness our feelings to increase our strength and abilities to protect each other."

_And I feel a weakness coming on, never felt so good to be so wrong._

"Us?" I whispered, trying to take it all in. _Soul mates_? Me and Jasper. "We were meant for each other? We were _made _for each other? Do the others know? Is this really bad? How is this even possible?" I wasn't even going to pretend that I wasn't blown away, torn between shock, curiosity and euphoria as a tiny voice in the back of my mind screamed, _mine_.

"Bella, look into my eyes and tell me, when you're really looking at me, that you feel any doubt that we're soul mates," he said, his voice full of fervor.

I looked straight into his golden eyes and he was right. All that emotion there was exactly like seeing his soul, and I could see him and I could see us. I saw my dream and the way he held me, and that kiss and the fireworks, and in the restaurant; the car ride afterwards and "you're beautiful, Bella". Then today and, "will you do me the honor of dancing with me tonight?" I saw his kind smile all that time ago in Phoenix, "you are worth it" and a grave but solid "yes" in the recent past.

Jasper's Vote had been a yes.

"I have no doubt," I promised, giving him my heart with my words and we kissed again as the song faded out and we danced to the next song and the next, as our lips danced together, also, relishing it the infinite way we held each other as we moved around the room to the music that night.

Rosalie and Emmett turned up six days later, pulling up in the Jeep, all squeals and hugs. They told us of how glad they were to be rid of Alice for the moment and Emmett filled Jasper in on the Sounders progress while Rosalie led me into the trees that cusped the front lawn. She was very casual in her movement, but the mischievous glint in her eye hinted at more things to come.

She rounded on me as we reached the river and she was grinning like a Cheshire cat, a devious angel.

"Bella, I brought pink paint," she whispered, winking at me.

"So?"

"Bella, don't be stupid," she sniffed, looking very solemnly at me.

A few moments past before I realised what she was talking about. "The Jeep!" I squeaked, gasping.

"Shh! They'll hear you!" she whispered, jabbing a finger over my shoulder in the direction of the house.

I mouthed _sorry_at her and said, "When can we? When can we?", now jumping up and down in excitement. This was our payback to Emmett, for sort of taking Alice's side when Deadward got away. Neither of us would say it but this was our revenge. We were so close now we didn't need to say it. I hadn't realised that Rose was still quite upset with him.

"In about ten minutes. Emmett said on the way over here he wanted to go hunting with Jasper, as he hadn't seen him for ages. So we just have to wait for them to go and then we strike!" She was cunning but I loved her for it and we high fived, waiting patiently in the undergrowth until we heard them leave.

As we went to fetch the paint out of Rosalie's case in the trunk of Emmett's car, I knew one thing was for certain.

If Deadward didn't manage to kill me, Emmett might.

Rose had had the sense to bring paintbrushes and several shades of pink. She assigned me the task of painting the hood hot pink and she set to work on the side.

"Did Jasper tell you, Bella?" Rosalie inquired very innocently, keeping her eyes focused on the driver side door.

"Tell me what?" Did she know?

"About the whole 'you and him' thing?"

"The s-soul mates thing?" I was stuttering a little over my words, still finding it hard to wrap my head around the fact that we were meant to be together. A few weeks ago, I could have sworn it was his brother I was meant to be with and how wrong I was. But somehow, I knew we fit together perfectly.

"Yes." She was letting me set the pace of the conversation, not looking at me or urging me to continue if I wasn't comfortable as Emmett's Jeep was transformed into a life size Barbie friendly vehicle.

"Yeah, he told me. He told me last night and we danced all night with a fire going," I didn't realise I was waving the paintbrush around splattering paint on the gravel driveway, rambling and day dreaming about the way he had held me as we swayed around the room. Rosalie grinned knowingly as she saw the love struck look on my face. "Rose, I love him." I grinned myself, saying it out loud for the very first time.

She squealed and ran to give me a hug, accidentally getting paint all over the both of us as she forgot the paintbrush in her own hand. I had never really had a girlfriend that I could _really _act like a teenager with, talk to about boys and make-up; I didn't think that was me. Rose, Jasper and Emmett to an extent, had given me the chance to come out of my shell and to be me. I'd always been so concerned with looking after everyone else that I never got a chance to be a teenager. However, my time had come and as we giggled and snickered our way around the Jeep, wrapping the steering wheel in a huge baby pink bow, trying to approximate out how far away to be from Emmett when he realised what we'd done to his proudest possession.

_Fuck Edward, _I thought jokingly, _Emmett is the biggest threat to my life right now!_

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**A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long! Thank you for being so patient. I've had a lot of stress recently and I just had to put the story of the back burner unfortunately.  
**

**What do you think is going to happen with Emmett's reaction to the girls vandalizing his Jeep? Where do you think Jasper and Bella are headed? Did you like the dance? And WHAT do you think Edward's next move will be?  
**

**Let me know what you guys think and review please!**

**I've missed you all! :)**

**Continue to despise Jasper'sVote!Alice. Trust me, guys, she is getting what is coming to her very soon. ;)  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! The earphones are still hanging on but barely and my iPod is giving up on life too. I am a shell. _**

**_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

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**Thank you to Mynxi for Beta-ing quite a lot of this and for accepting my decision to post earlier than I should do. For full details, see the Author's Note at the bottom. **

**Also thanks to bloodofbeckie 's mum for giving birth to Bex. **

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_Hush hush, the world is quiet _

_Hush hush, we both can't fight it _

_It's us that made this mess, why can't you understand? _

_Woah, I won't sleep tonight. _

_**- Neon Trees, Animal** _

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**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 9:**

_Rosalie squealed and ran to give me a hug, accidentally getting paint all over the both of us as she forgot the paintbrush in her own hand. I had never really had a girlfriend that I could really act like a teenager with, talk to about boys and make-up; I didn't think that was me. Rose, Jasper and Emmett to an extent, had given me the chance to come out of my shell and to be me. I'd always been so concerned with looking after everyone else that I never got a chance to be a teenager. However, my time had come and as we giggled and snickered our way around the Jeep, wrapping the steering wheel in a huge baby pink bow, trying to approximate out how far away to be from Emmett when he realised what we'd done to his proudest possession._

Fuck Edward,_ I thought jokingly, _Emmett is the biggest threat to my life right now!

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**Bella's POV**

Emmett and Jasper returned home, just as Rose arrogantly managed to position the Jeep in the middle of the front lawn, flaunting the pink bow like a beacon on the vast expanse of the lawn. We ran deep into the forest downwind, knowing that nothing and no one could escape his wrath now. We climbed a Pacific silver fir tree, the heavy rain plummeting from the dark sky grazing the top of the nearby Mount Rainier that protruded into the horizon haughtily.

Emmett's roar echoed off the mountains and through the forest. Birds fled the trees, heading into the huge dark span of the sky.

"NOOOOOOO!"

The forest fell into silence listening quietly in terror to the angry vampire. Rose and I desperately tried to stifle our giggles as we heard several trees fall to his anger that lined the lawn and Jasper's guffawing at our prank. Emmett wailed in sorrow and then there was an incredibly loud cracking noise echoing through the forest, the sound of a rock shattering. We heard the fragments pelt into the forest, felling _more _trees in the process.

We heard him blur through the forest, pounding the earth as he growled our names and we howled our laughter. He began hurtling in our direction and we gasped, not breathing and unmoving. The rain and wind rendered his sense of smell useless and only his hearing could tell him which direction we were in, not our actual location. He ran straight under our hiding spot and we remained frozen like the rest of the wildlife he passed.

After a few hours had passed and we knew he was out of hearing range, we crept back to the house where Jasper leaned against the Jeep, a mock stern expression on his face. The Jeep had escaped Emmett's wrath somehow but I did not think Rose and I would. Rose snorted at his expression.

"Girls, would you like to explain to me how this happened?"

"_No-o_," we said slyly, grinning darkly towards him.

"When the Major addresses you, you refer to him as such. I do not like such flagrant disrespect, girls. So I will ask you again – what happened?"

Rose and I caught each other's eye and while I snickered, she managed to contain herself enough to say, "Emmett's Jeep got a _nice_ feminine paint job, Major."

"It looks much _prettier_, sir," I added, trying to feign sincerity as I stood at attention, playing along a little, with my hands folded behind my back.

"Excuse me, soldier, you will only speak when spoken to," he ordered, walking towards me with a strict expression, although I could see the mischief in his eyes and the ripple of his arm muscles through his white t-shirt.

I tried to restrain my grin, glancing down at the ground.

"Ladies, I do not like this insolent behaviour and I command you to show your remorse appropriately. Is that clear? Miss Hale?" He was pacing in front of the both of us now.

"Sir, yes, sir."

"Miss Cullen?"

He was staring at me now, I could feel it and so I looked up _insolent _and said, "I do not regret my actions, Major."

I was trying so hard not to giggle when Jasper came to stand not two feet from me, I gasped sharply at his sudden proximity. I saw Rose smirk in our direction, just as Jasper murmured, "Pardon me, soldier -what did you say?"

I looked into his smouldering eyes. "I said, no." I played along, trying desperately to remain defiant, folding my arms.

His hand came up to curve around my cheek. "Sweetheart, what you did to Emmett's Jeep was vulgar."

I knew if I was human, my cheeks would be burning red by now but instead, I titled my head to his touch and remained silent.

"Okay, I'm going inside before Jasper starts actually projecting all that sexual tension and I end up frustrated, while my husband's roaming the forest seeking revenge for defacing the only thing that can compete with his affection for me," Rosalie declared, flouncing inside.

Jasper's face was coming closer to mine and then we were kissing, his hand going from my cheek, leaving a trail of heat behind, to twisting in my hair, his other hand wrapping firmly around my waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling the pull of muscle and skin in his shoulders as our lips moved together, his tongue dancing with mine, just as it had that the night of the meal. I melted in his arms as the kiss heated up, and my lips became more urgent as I felt myself pressing closer to his body, feeling the stone power in his chest and the strength in the arms that held me. The scent of honey and sunshine was concentrated here, as it had been that beautiful night.

Eventually, we broke apart and his sweet breath washed over my face, as he whispered my name.

For a few more weeks, we continued exchanging incredibly passionate kisses before things became too heated in this infuriatingly passionate pattern.

One morning, when I was snuggled up on Jasper's chest on the sofa watching television, the phone rang.

Rose answered, "Hello?"

Vampire hearing rendered us all able to hear Carlisle's voice on the other end. "Rose, we've got some bad news."

"What is it?"

"Victoria. We've found her scent littering Forks." His voice was grave, incredibly if my heart was still beating, it would have stopped at that moment. I felt Jasper tense and his arms wrapped instinctively tighter around me.

"That isn't the worst of it, sadly," he was talking quietly, as if we may not hear him and therefore might be spared the angst of what he was about to say. "While we were out hunting, it seems she came sniffing around the house."

"_What?_" was the united response.

"What do we do?" Rosalie was freaking out now and for all her confident nature, she still looked to the patriarch of our family for advice and for comfort.

Emmett went to hold her, clearly disturbed both by Carlisle's words and by the fact that Rosalie was obviously shaken.

Jasper kissed the top of my head, while I buried into his chest, radiating worry.

"Rose, Emmett, you need to come home. We are going to need help to gather information on her and see if we can sort all this out once and for all. Jasper will stay with Bella to protect her and keep her company."

Rose and Emmett left two days later. Rose having recovered from her panic and now absolutely determined to rid this world of "that ginger bitch," with Emmett and his Jeep in tow, which we had painted black the day before. They hugged us goodbye, both resolute in their anger and protectiveness of me.

Although, I was touched by their affection and shielding of me, I really just wanted to go and deal with it myself. I was a newborn and not only was I in excellent control of myself; I could feel the power and strength flowing through my veins every time I went to hunt. I knew Victoria's death was something that I would not find troublesome right now. I understood that I was still the baby of the family for all intents and purposes but I really wanted to prove that I did not need so many defences. I could do this if they gave me the chance and taught me how to.

I did not say anything, however, knowing that they were all more experienced fighters than I was, and due to my strength and control being untested, they were more stable than I was right now. It was not something I wanted to risk because while I was fearful for myself, I was just as, if not more fearful for my family and for my Jasper.

My Jasper.

As I watched the Jeep drive off into the distance through the trees, I wheeled to where Jasper stood, watching me. I went to kiss him softly, quickly, the passionate tension becoming apparent in the moment. We had not gone any further than in recent weeks than ardent kisses and fiery touches in safe places. This would be the only time alone, that we could really get through all the things we needed to, and to fully clarify just what was going on between us.

He took my hand and led me inside to the couch, switching off the football game that Emmett had been watching.

He spoke first, still holding my hand as he looked into my eyes. "I don't mean to be so forward, Bella, but we definitely need to talk."

I nodded, inching a little closer to him. There was a pause then, neither of us bothering to breathe while we waited for the other to speak. He caught my eye then and he chuckled at whatever expression he saw there. I slapped at his arm playfully, giggling and he caught my hand, placing his hand palm to palm with mine, examining our hands.

"Bella, how do you feel about me?"

I looked straight at him. He already knew that I wasn't going to cave first. "Jasper, don't play dumb," I reprimanded and he laughed at that. "You already know how I feel!"

He was still smiling as he said, "Alright then. I'll go first."

There was a pause as he prepared himself, but he never displayed an inch of anxiety.

"Isabella, you have to know that I'm in love with you. I'm completely and utterly in love with you and I don't know how the _fuck _it happened, but somewhere between voting 'yes' and now, I fell for you. I discovered we're _soul mates_; one of the rarest things in our world and it scares the shit out of me and awes me every second of the day that we were destined to be together from the start. When you're in my arms, I know we were always meant to be. And we haven't discussed it yet or figured out what this is, but whatever _this _is, I hope it means that you're my girl, sweetheart, and I'll be your guy.

There was no hesitation. "Jasper, of course. I was already yours."

I went to kiss him again, sweetly at first but then, it became much more urgent, his honey and sunshine enveloping the heavy air around us. Our kisses became imperative as I climbed into his lap enfolding my arms around his neck. This would be it, I wanted him and I wanted to show him. His hands twisting and pulling my hair, as our need for one another became apparent. The heat in my core intensified and I felt him harden through his jeans.

Suddenly, he swept me up into his strong arms and stood, leading me into the bedroom, where I was sure things between us were about to change forever.

If I'd have told myself this time last year that I would lose my virginity to Jasper Whitlock, I would have thought myself out of my mind. Yet here, as he lowered me to the bed, kissing me passionately and slowly, his hands hooking up my t-shirt, breaking apart from the kiss only to pull it off my body in one swift movement, it felt so right.

I liked it.

I liked that he paused then as his hungry eyes roamed every inch of my body, still clad in a bra and jeans. He lowered himself on his forearms, kissing my collarbone and placing fluttering kisses in a line down the middle of my torso, whispering, "Bella, you're beautiful, babe."

I inhaled sharply, watching as he glided towards the apex of my thighs, kissing just below my belly button, his lips caressing my skin so lovingly and in such a way that I knew I was in safe in his hands.

This was a totally new experience to me, but it suddenly occurred to me that it couldn't be new for Jasper.

How many other women had had him? How many other beautiful vampires had experienced love like we were about to share, from him? How many had also sharply inhaled as he kissed them adoringly? Surely more than just Alice.

He must have felt my anxiety because he suddenly looked up. "What's wrong, darlin'?"

He looked so innocent in that moment that I felt compelled to tell him the truth as his head rested on my bare stomach, his blond curls tickling my belly a little. "Jasper, how many girls have you done this with?"

He looked abashed. "You don't need to know, Bella," he murmured, looking away from me.

I let him pause before urging, "Baby, you can tell me!"

"I don't want to hurt you." His fingers reached up to lace with mine as he buried his head in my ivory stomach.

"Jasper," I said his name like a vow and he looked up.

He answered me then. "Bella, if I'm honest, I don't know. I've slept with so many women and _fucked_ them -" I cringed at the word 'fucked',"-that I can't count them. But I promise you, I have _never _made love to one. Never. Not even Alice. But you, I'll make love to you. I'll cherish you and protect you and I'll make you feel things you didn't think were possible."

I liked that he winked at me then, adoration in his eyes and I bit my lower lip, the only way I had now of expressing embarrassment.

I beckoned for him to hover over the top of me again and I tugged at his flimsy t-shirt, ripping it clean from his body, disposing of it somewhere as the gorgeous planes of his chest were exposed , the muscles rippling as he pulled himself above me on his forearms again, while I ran my palms up his body. The criss-crossing pattern his scars made under my hands only seemed to enhance his beauty, not disfigure it.

He kissed me again, his hands clutching at the skin around my waist, kissing me like he needed me, a little faster, a little more urgently as he rested his weight on top of me.

I liked our skin touching, it seemed almost _warm _as the indentations of his scars on the satin of his chest glided on mine as he rested his weight on me. He was so damn strong and powerful. I loved the way his solid body rested against the gentle curves of my own.

I liked how, newborn or not, when he gathered me up in his arms, pulling me closer, I could relish in the feel of warmth and safety from his shielding body, the security of the his scent and his warm smile.

I liked the more fragile state of my female body in contrast to the masculine power of his own, the evidence of his strength embedded and scarred on his granite skin forever.

I liked that I could feel how he wanted me on my thigh, only inches away from the heat I could feeling building in my own sex. I wanted him to show me love, so I wriggled slightly to the right, pushing myself upwards to create friction. He groaned a little, so quietly I felt I had imagined it, but the ferociously passionate kiss I was met with confirmed it was real his tongue glazed my lips, as his hand fisted my hair.

Suddenly, he pulled away, staring at me, inches from my face. He whispered, "Bella, we don't have to do this."

"I want to," I murmured back, mesmerised entirely. "It's just my first time and I- well, I have no idea what to do."

I liked that he did not laugh at me, or look frustrated or smile, he just stroked the spot on my waist that he had previously been clutching at. "Honey, I'll make you as comfortable as possible. It will hurt at first but I promise, I'm here, and I'll make it feel better."

"Jasper, empath or not, you _always_make it feel better," I told him, sardonically. He grinned and his hand came up to thumb the swell of my breast over my bra. He put pressure on my nipple, and I liked the ache that I felt develop in my centre, desperately seeking that friction and I let out a moan.

When he peeled my jeans from my body and I had unclasped and removed my bra, leaving it somewhere with his destroyed t-shirt, I did not like how vulnerable I felt, lying there laid bare in just my soaked panties, desperate for him to take me in a way that I did not quite understand yet, to fulfil a pleasure I had never experienced.

I watched his eyes rove the curve of my breasts, my nipples hardening under his gaze and tracing the lines of my panties. The scent of my arousal was growing as I saw the lust in his eyes and heard him growl a little.

I didn't like that he leaned off the bed then, staring at me wordlessly, locking eyes with me as he unbuttoned his jeans, hooked a finger under his boxer waistband and dropped both clothing items.

That was the first time I saw a man's erection in the flesh. It _was _as big as my dream.

He felt my shock; I saw the impish look on his face, his ego boosted slightly at my accompanying lust. He glanced at my panties with a pointed look and I removed them hastily.

I lay back on the bed and I liked the way he hovered over me, again. His cock brushed my entrance, causing my sex to tingle. I grasped his shoulders, ready for the pain as I lay back, eyes squeezed shut.

He thrust into me once, fast and quick and it was painful and I didn't like that. He feathered my face with kisses, murmuring whispers of love until the pain receded and he repeated the motion of his hips rocking into me again, monitoring my face for any sign of regret.

The actions caused sensations in nerves that I didn't know existed as I experienced the pure pleasure of sex for the first time with Jasper, and he locked eyes with me as he withdrew and sank back inside me rhythmically.

It was such a strange and beautiful feeling as he rocked inside me, sharing my body, completing a jigsaw puzzle I did not know had been incomplete. The final piece was him, our bodies gracefully interlacing on his bed, as I whimpered his name, feeling something building in my stomach.

His thumb slipped from my thigh to between my legs as he rubbed and flicked my clit, causing me to moan, panting heavily breaths I did not need as he growled instinctively into my neck, nipping and licking at the granite skin while he plunged into me.

"I love you, Isabella Cullen, and you are not permitted to ever forget that," he snarled, speeding up, still gazing at me as he drove into my body.

The feeling in my stomach burned simultaneously with the aching pleasure in my clit and I felt venom spring to my eyes, the emotion burning in my stomach as I realised what we were doing.

"I love you too, Jasper Whitlock," I choked out, emotion, pleasure, and realisation staining my tone.

We were mating.

With his speed, correlated the sounds of our moans and his growls filling the room, the pleasure and emotion jolting through my body at the sensation of him pounding me so hard, the bed was shaking with the force of it, his lust-hazed eyes not moving from mine once as I bucked my hips into his, meeting his rhythm, the sound of skin on skin, cracking and slapping together mingling with the smell of sex and the moans, something that I found I enjoyed.

"Oh, fuck. Jasper, that feels so... Oh, God!"

"Bella," his voice full of reverence and passion and love.

I could feel my undoing coming soon and Jasper's shaking signalled his own. The burning in my stomach began pulling, like flames licking at my body from the inside, as if the change would reverse.

Jasper rubbed furiously at my clit, incoherent growls vibrating from his chest as he dared me to come first but I would not, I could not. I wanted this to happen together.

I reached up to nip at his neck and I whispered, "I love you, Jasper."

It was like I'd flicked a switch. "Oh, shit! Bella, I'm going to..."

The sight of his inhibitions lowered as I watched his pleasure and felt his seed shoot into me, was enough to bring about my own end.

I felt the love and the pleasure rolling off me in waves and I was soaring above the ground, the sensations of all my nerves like a live wire or an earthquake, pure earth shattering pleasure and I felt Jasper project his own pleasure onto me as he felt mine. I enjoyed that the most.

And then the fire released my stomach and spread to my skin, flickering along it in an almost invisible searing thread, surrounding Jasper and myself in a tight, fiery circle, pulling us closer through our waves of pleasure, with him still inside me.

_What the fuck was going on?_

* * *

**A/N: What do you think is going on with Bella and Jasper then? Did you like the cheeky lemon, my dears? What about Victoria's reappearance and Rosalie and Bella's violation of Emmett's CD player?**

**Review and let me know! **

**Anyway, I needed to apologise for the many glaring grammatical errors that may be included above. I've had to post this earlier than the fantastic Mynxi could Beta it all (she did manage the first few pages because she is absolutely golden) because I'm going to London (yes, I'm British! My Betas translate into American English for me!) tomorrow to visit the other half for a couple of weeks and I don't think I'll be able to post down there. Please take that into account before judging the grammar and British English words and please know that I love you all dearly****. **

**Jasper loves you all too, you fantastic creatures. Hopefully I'll find Prince Harry and I'll manage to get him to marry me since Jackson Rathbone is officially taken and nearly a father. **

**(If you've read this far, you're a saint)**

* * *

**A/N Part 2: Mynxi has Beta'd it all now for me so hopefully the chapter should be free of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Hope you liked it! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! I'm staying with the boyfriend in London and I've run out of conditioner for my hair and it's just not good, obviously. So yeah, I literally own nothing. Especially not these characters or Twilight._**

**_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

**Thanks to Mynxi for being a fantastic Beta. Sadly, I didn't get chance to get this to her, but go check her stuff, she's brilliant. Basically, it all fell apart because I didn't think I could post in London. I'll explain it in the A/N, okay? **

**Thanks to bloodofbeckie for literally taking this for a few hours and getting rid of the British English and bad grammar.**

**I cannot promise you that there will be no mistakes, but I hope you like it!**

* * *

_In this needle and haystack life,_  
_I found miracles there in your eyes._  
_It's no accident we're here tonight-_  
_we are once in a lifetime._

**_- Switchfoot, Needle and Haystack Life_**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 10:**

_We were mating._

_With his speed, correlated the sounds of our moans and his growls filling the room, the pleasure and emotion jolting through my body at the sensation of him pounding me so hard, the bed was shaking with the force of it, his lust filled eyes not moving from mine once as I bucked my hips into his, meeting his rhythm, the sound of skin on skin, cracking and slapping together mingling with the smell of sex and the moans, something more that I found I liked._

_"Oh, fuck. Jasper, that feels so.. Oh, God!"_

_"Bella." His voice was full of reverence and passion and love. And I liked that a lot._

_I could feel my undoing coming soon and Jasper's shaking signalled his own. The burning in my stomach began pulling, like flames licking at my body from the inside, as if the change would reverse._

_Jasper rubbed furiously at my clit, incoherent growls vibrating from his chest as he dared me to come first but I would not, I could not. I wanted this to happen together._

_I reached up to nip at his neck and I whispered, "I love you, Jasper."_

_It was like I'd flicked a switch. "Oh, shit! Bella, I'm going to..."_

_The sight of his inhibitions lowered as I watched his pleasure and felt his seed shoot into me, was enough to bring about my own end and I felt it._

_I felt the love and I felt the pleasure rolling off me in waves and I was soaring above the ground, the sensations of all my nerves like a live wire or an earthquake, pure earth shattering pleasure and I felt Jasper project his own pleasure onto me as he felt mine. I liked that the most._

_And then the fire released my stomach and spread to my skin, flickering along it in an almost invisible searing thread, surrounding Jasper and myself in a tight, fiery circle, pulling us closer through our waves of pleasure, with him still inside me._

_What the fuck was going on?_

* * *

**Bella's POV**

The invisible thread seemed to bury itself into my body, the pressure pushing us closer together until suddenly it released. Jasper collapsed onto his side, pulling me close to him, and a feeling of peace came over us. We were both breathing heavily, as unnecessary as it was for us. His arm was slung lazily across my body and his eyelashes dusted his cheeks over his closed eyes. I waited several minutes before speaking, preferring just to watch him and listen to the noises of the birds in the trees outside, the sound of dozens of deer fleeing from the sleuth of a mountain lion slinking through the forest.

"Jasper?" I muttered his name quietly, cursing myself for breaching the peace.

He made a hushing sound back, his fingers tracing a reassuring soft pattern on my back now and I noticed a crease appear in his eyebrows. I waited until my curiosity got the better of me.

"Jas?"

He opened his eyes quickly and his golden eyes bore straight into mine. That was when I knew something was different.

"What's going on, Jas?" I couldn't tell if it was good or bad and my natural instincts were telling me to whisper and to prepare myself for an attack.

He continued to stare at me for a fraction of a second before suddenly sitting straight up. He paused a few seconds before moving to face the window, standing to attention, staring outside towards the mountains.

"I don't believe it," he murmured, his voice awash with awe.

"What? What?" I could feel my newborn sensations were on red alert and I could hear the hysteria in my tone and I went immediately to his side, clutching at his arm, the feel of his bicep under my hands comforting me.

"Bella, whatever the fuck that was, it's messing with my empath abilities," he was speaking quickly, his eyes frantic now despite his hushed tone.

"What? Tell me what is happening, Jasper! You're scaring me!" The light from the window poured onto his alabaster skin and his naked form was magnificent.

"I can _feel _further. _Miles _away, there are people and I can feel them, just as I feel you now." He wrapped the arm I'd be clutching around my waist and pulled me right up against his stone body, his skin feeling warm against mine and his face was etched in surprise. "I can stop it too. I just think I want it to stop and it... it stops."

I paused to think over his words and then I looked back at the bed, the dishevelled sheets telling the story of minutes before, of the love and the fire between us. "Jasper, do you think _that- _do you think it did something to _us_?"

Before I could react, he was leaning down toward me, his hands cupping my face and his breath washing over me as he looked deep into my eyes. "Bella, try and stop me feeling the apprehension you're feeling now. Try to stop me from feeling that love and that worry."

"What?"

"Just try, babe."

I focused on my body, putting everything into self awareness. I could feel it now, the thin protective layer of something encasing my body. I flexed it and felt it ripple across my skin invisibly, at will. There was no resistance in the shield or trepidation in the way I sought it to move, it was merely natural, as if it had existed my entire life and I had been both aware and fond of it. I tried to mold it then, trying to will the shield into taking an even less consistent form, one of the world of the unconscious mind, one that sensed love and hate rather than the physical attack it had stopped before. I felt it shift to such immediately; almost changing color in my mind's eye and Jasper's gasp let me know it had worked.

I waited for his comment but instead he took several paces back from me and said, "Now, stop this."

The look in his eyes could have told me what he was about to do but it was my shield that informed me of a looming attack and the emotional shield shifted back to the physical invisible protective layer and without thinking too heavily about it, I threw it in front of me a couple of feet and watched Jasper crash into something solid and crumple on the floor to his knees with a grunt.

I released the shield immediately, squealing in both delight and slight worry for Jasper's fall. I had never imagined Jasper as being anything other than omnipotent. He always seemed to win, an unstoppable force, one of the fighters of the Cullen clan and so for him to fall so easily to me. But once I let that go, I felt something I had never felt in the presence of the Cullens.

_Power._

"Jasper, I could kick your butt!" I declared, crossing my arms with a smirk as he got to his feet, agile as always. "So, I'm powerful now? Is that what mating did? It made me powerful?" I could almost imagine the desperately hopeful look on my face now.

"Honey, you were already powerful," he said and without warning, he picked me up easily with one hand and swung me around. I squealed, exhilarated, awed, and excited at the prospect of being a contender now.

When he put me down, I turned to him and put my hands on my hips. "Fuckward better watch out now, I could kick his sorry ass from here to New York, no problem! That loser better be prepared to get his butt _kicked_!" Jasper's laughter was the thing that dissolved the slight fear that I had felt well up at the thought of taking Edward on, despite my confident words.

Jasper had of course decided to ring Carlisle for further information on the mating but he could not tell us anymore than we already knew. He congratulated us warmly and informed us that Rosalie and Emmett would be returning in the morning with some important information.

I had folded my arms, not really watching the soap opera on television as I reminded myself smugly of the slight ass-kicking that had happened earlier. Jasper and I then snuggled by the firelight that danced around the room whilst he told me stories of his days as a major in the army while the television chattered quickly to itself until the sun rose to the east, gracing the earth with its infallible light once again. Just then, Jasper took me by the hand and led me out of the house and into the forest, sighing something about being thirsty.

I had just finished a very aggressive mountain lion quite messily when I heard the rumble of an engine heading towards the house and the muted sound of bickering.

"Emmett, there was _no_ reason to _hide _my BMW!" Rosalie sounded furious and exasperated. Jasper and I glanced at each other with identical smirks and wordlessly began walking lazily back towards the house to meet them.

"Oh, really? So I get in my car and try to unwind with a bit of Linkin Park but then there's some loser who is _so _untalented that he says "baby" in a song _fifty five_ times!" Emmett sounded just as enraged and the snarling of the engine told us that he was driving recklessly.

Rosalie's voice was cutting as she muttered, "Says the guy who listens to _What Makes You Beautiful_ when he thinks everyone's out hunting."

"HEY! That song is _meaningful _and One Direction is a good band!" Emmett sounded almost pitiful in his defiance now.

"_Band_ is an incredibly strong word for five idiots who sing songs aimed at pre-teen girls, who became famous for coming in third on some British talent show," Rose snarled.

The sound of Emmett's teeth grinding together accompanied the sight of his Jeep driving up towards the house far too fast. It stopped suddenly and Rosalie flung the door open and stomped towards us, the torn expression of excitement at seeing Jasper and I again and of fury at her husband causing me to have to bite my lip to prevent myself from smiling. She flew into my arms, and I realized that although it had been only a day, I really missed her. She released me and went to hug Jasper, just as Emmett stalked towards me, wearing the same expression on his face that his wife had just greeted me with. It was the mirrored image between the supermodel that was Rosalie and the body builder that was Emmett that sent me to being doubled over and howling with laughter.

"What is it?" Emmett asked, taking a step back, looking utterly bewildered.

"Nothing," I coughed, trying to control myself, standing straight again, attempting desperately to keep a straight face, unable to totally contain the giggles.

"What's happened, guys?" Jasper asked, drawing the attention away from my uncontrollable sniggers as he released Rose who gave a quick glare at her husband over her shoulder before placing one hand on her hip.

"They _violated _my stereo!" Emmett cried, giving me a sharp glower that would've made me cringe, had I not known it was what exactly we'd violated his stereo with.

Rose flicked her golden hair over her shoulder and said fiercely, "We Bieber-qued him."

Jasper began to laugh but was cut off by Emmett arguing, "Yeah, but I didn't let them get away with it! Oh no! Not after they painted my baby _pink_!"

"What did you do?" I asked, looking from Rose to Emmett and back to Rose who stalked down the steps to stand only inches from Emmett's face.

"_He traded my BMW in for some shitty old ass Chevy truck!_" Rose shrieked.

In amongst Jasper's howling and my own laughter, my attempt at defending Chevrolet pickup trucks sounded feeble. "Hey! There is nothing wrong with Chevy trucks, they're sturdy and strong and classic."

Rosalie barely glanced at me as she said, "Whatever, Bella. They're old and they smell like feet and they're not as pretty as my BMW!"

"You mean, ostentatious, Rose," Jasper teased, but I could hear a shade in my voice that seemed like he was sticking up for me a little.

"Says you with your Ducati, Jasper," she said scornfully, gliding into the house without so much of a backward glance at us. She would be fine though. Chances were that Emmett had merely hidden it in one of the garages and would reveal it at some point with a flourish to try and win her approval back.

Emmett walked towards us now, greeting me with a bear hug and Jasper with a few grunts of "How you doin', bro?" and a few claps on the back.

We walked into the house to gather on the sofas where Rosalie was lounging with a softer look on her face, slightly more concerned.

"So, what did you guys find when you were there?" Jasper asked, his arm coming protectively around my waist instinctively, pulling me into his lap.

Emmett leaned forward on the perpendicular sofa and said, "Well, there were a few surprises."

Rosalie sat up a little. "We found a _note_ left by our lovely little red headed vamp," but the way she said vamp sounded a lot like "bitch".

"What? Where?" Jasper asked, sounding anxious. This was not the way the plan of action was meant to go in his eyes.

Rosalie paused, some sort of pitiful emotion flickering in her perfect amber eyes. "In the meadow."

It didn't hurt as I thought it would at the mention of the place that Edward and I had once called our own. During our time apart, it had destroyed me to go to that very place but since then, I had found my soul mate in his brother and fallen into a secure and healthy love. I could not feel sadness or pain in the past, merely fear at the note.

Rosalie pulled a small piece of folded up paper and handed it to me with a grave look on her seraphic face. I unfolded the note cautiously, Victoria's scent staining the paper, Jasper craning his neck over my shoulder to read with me. The handwriting was both elegant and small.

"_Guess who._

_It was a surprise indeed to hear Bella had been changed, indeed such a surprise that I found it just too convenient until I was approached by a breathtaking creature weeks ago, death and revenge on his mind. Well, he was just too perfect, wasn't he? I could not let such an angel die so quickly. What an interesting story he had to tell me, dear Cullens. As it was not he who killed my James, he was far too weak for that, far too busy worrying for the fragile little human. It was the honey haired one, the one with the scowl and the drawl. And there I was, finding out the honey haired one was the _soul mate _of my dear Bella. It was all too coincidental to let go. My angel and I will find you both, we will bring the powers of hell to your doorstep and we will tear the honey haired one apart. And later, I will tear your dearest little Bella limb from limb and make the honey haired one watch as we burn her alive._

_Do not ever feel safe again. Watch behind your shoulder for that noise in the night, for something frightening even for a vampire, if that is what you golden eyes call yourselves._

_We are all coming for you."_

I waited for the fear to sharpen but instead it dulled, and not because Jasper's arms had tightened around my waist but because I felt strong, stronger than I ever had. The control I had over my shield was magnificent, and the thought of Fuckward and his new psychotic partner pairing up to rid the world of me and Jasper was almost laughable.

We spent the night laughing, giggling at the thought of Edward and Victoria together, Emmett making many jokes about the probability of her being a nymphomaniac and Jasper wondering how her nymphomania would handle Edward's frigidness and obsession with his own virginity and who would get their own way.

I laughed so hard, my stomach hurt and I revelled in the company of my family, feeling totally unthreatened by two vampires going up against our family.

Just one thing niggled at my mind.

"_We are all coming for you."_

What had she meant by all?

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, its Victoria! What do you think? Did any of you know it was her? And who exactly do you think she meant by "all"? What about Bella's shield? And the whole power advancement? **

**Emmett is fighting back against the girls too. ;)**

**All credit to TrueSkye for the term "Bieber-qued". It was absolutely fabulous, darling!**

**Anyway, so the situation with posting this chapter was confusing. I had literally a day to write it (which is why it is so short) and a day for it to be Beta'd because I didn't think I could post in London. Anyway, I had it written and Beta'd by bloodofbeckie who I basically threw this chapter at over Facebook without warning, and she very kindly got it sorted for me very quickly. Anyway, I didn't actually get it posted in time for me leaving, but I'm down here now and I have kidnapped the boyfriend's laptop while he is on Singstar, killing my ears, to post this.**

**So, I apologise, dears. Normal service will resume soo. It's just that since coming back from my break, my posting schedule and contact with my Betas is, at best, inconsistent but I'm sorting it as you can see. :)**

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought of this one!**


	12. Chapter 12

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! Especially not these characters or Twilight. I recently read the Perks of Being a Wallflower too and cried like a lunatic. Alas, I do not own that either. I do own my boyfriend and he is currently texting Harry Potter quotes to people off my phone.  
_**

**_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

**Thanks to the fabulous bloodofbeckie for being a fabulous Beta. Sadly, she is currently surrounded by her family and has children hanging off her and is still drooling over Ryan Lochte and so was unable to Beta this before I got really impatient. I'm sure she'll be back for the next installment anyway. Did I mention she's fabulous?  
**

**So, thank you to tigga123, a Harry Potter and Warehouse 13 fanatic who agreed to Beta this for me quickly. She's brilliant and talented.  
**

**Also, thanks to Breedy95, another Harry Potter enthusiast who saved my ass and Beta'd this in less than a day too.  
**

**They're all great!  
**

* * *

_We only lie when asked if we're okay,_

_we lock ourselves up, we only pray_

_that we won't be the sterling silver that turns grey._

_we are the sparks that never fade._

_**- Gabrielle Aplin, Never Fade**  
_

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 11:  
**

_Rosalie pulled a small piece of folded up paper and handed it to me with a grave look on her seraphic face. I unfolded the note cautiously, Victoria's scent staining the paper, Jasper craning his neck over my shoulder to read with me. The handwriting was both elegant and small._

"Guess who.

It was a surprise indeed to hear Bella had been changed, indeed such a surprise that I found it just too convenient until I was approached by a breathtaking creature weeks ago, death and revenge on his mind. Well, he was just too perfect, wasn't he? I could not let such an angel die so quickly. What an interesting story he had to tell me, dear Cullens. As it was not he who killed my James, he was far too weak for that, far too busy worrying for the fragile little human. It was the honey haired one, the one with the scowl and the drawl. And there I was, finding out the honey haired one was the soul mate of my dear Bella. It was all too coincidental to let go. My angel and I will find you both, we will bring the powers of hell to your doorstep and we will tear the honey haired one apart. And later, I will tear your dearest little Bella limb from limb and make the honey haired one watch as we burn her alive.

Do not ever feel safe again. Watch behind your shoulder for that noise in the night, for something frightening even for a vampire, if that is what you golden eyes call yourselves.

We are all coming for you."

_I waited for the fear to sharpen but instead it dulled, and not because Jasper's arms had tightened around my waist but because I felt strong, stronger than I ever had. The control I had over my shield was magnificent, and the thought of Fuckward and his new psychotic partner pairing up to rid the world of me and Jasper was almost laughable._

_We spent the night laughing, giggling at the thought of Edward and Victoria together, Emmett making many jokes about the probability of her being a nymphomaniac and Jasper wondering how her nymphomania would handle Edward's frigidness and obsession with his own virginity and who would get their own way._

_I laughed so hard, my stomach hurt and I revelled in the company of my family, feeling totally unthreatened by two vampires going up against our family._

_Just one thing niggled at my mind._

"We are all coming for you."

_What had she meant by all?_

* * *

**Bella's POV**

The days that followed brought with them strong feelings of euphoria. My hunting improved thanks to Jasper urging me not to return home staining my clothes a bloody red. A lot of the Cullen clothes were white anyway and the expression of horror on Rosalie's face when I returned back to the house one day seemed to be only a shade on how furious Alice would be with me for ruining so many clothes. It did cross my mind that Alice treated clothes as disposable and viewed money in just the same way. This seemed to be rather different from how Rosalie treated them, even though she was just as stylish, which made me ponder a little on the differences between them once again.

My euphoria was intertwined with an underlying sense of fear; a sense of fear that only I seemed to be feeling. Who was the "all" Victoria had mentioned? Was it just her and Edward or had she recruited some friends? When I tried to share these worries with Rose one night, she merely told me not to worry and reminded me that the majority of vampires were very well acquainted with Carlisle. As a nomad, she added, Victoria was unlikely to have made many friends anyway. She also reminded me to stay calm- Alice would be searching the future for such an attack constantly since Carlisle had been informed of that situation. He had reminded us that Victoria may have been trying to frighten us and to fall into her trap would be inviting fear and stress into our lives, stress that we did not need.

"We will know when it is time and we'll be ready, Bella. Keep calm, you worry way too much," Rosalie told me one day, on her way to go and buy herself a new car, kissing me on the cheek and leaving with a stunning smile.

"We won't be ready if all you're thinking about is that damn Lamborghini! You can't stop me from going hysterical with worry!" I shouted after her, grinning in spite of myself.

She was right, I was evidently overreacting.

The next day, Jasper's phone rang, startling us all slightly. Carlisle had called overnight and told us that Alice had declared that all was well and so our minds were confronted with thoughts of an emergency.

"Hello?"

The voice that came from the other end had a strong Southern twang that radiated both a shrewd charm and a warm jovial tone. "So, I was watching the Harry Potter films last night, Major. Why is it that when Barty Crouch impersonates Mad Eye Moody, his voice becomes Moody's, yet in the Chamber of Secrets, Ron and Harry both sound like themselves when they impersonate Crabbe and Goyle?"

All of us smiled and I nodded sharply in agreement with the voice on the other end of the phone, planning on making a comment about how JK Rowling never stated that Polyjuice Potion didn't change the vocal chords in the books and that it had seemed that their voices would change too, when I realized where I was and that this was a stranger, so I bit my tongue, holding back my expressions of love for literature.

Jasper drawled something that carried a hint of sarcasm in reply to the voice. "Hello, Peter."

"_Peter? As in Charlotte-and-Peter Peter_?" I mouthed in Emmett's direction, who nodded, returning his attention to his football game. Jasper had told me of Peter and Charlotte several times, and of the woman named Maria who had raised them to tend to and organize the newborn armies of the Southern wars. And so I was both intimidated and in awe of the man Jasper was speaking to.

Jasper then wandered about the house catching up with his Captain, listening attentively whilst the vampire named Peter told Jasper stories of him wrestling a very large great white shark.

After a while, Jasper stopped laughing and said in a stern tone, "What do you want then?"

"Well, I was going to just burst in, but I thought it better to tell you that Charlotte and I will be arriving in a few hours and staying with you for… well, for the foreseeable future." With that, Peter hung up and Jasper returned to the living room, smiling and shaking his head.

"How does he know where we are?" I contemplated aloud.

Jasper came to sit beside me, leaning into the sofa, just as a human would after hearing something that brought them both relief and a sense of something good to come. He exhaled as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and said, "Peter's what you would call special."

"What do you mean?" I asked him inquisitively.

"He's basically an insufferable know it all who flaunts his talents at every opportune moment." It had been Emmett who had responded to me with a grin in Jasper's direction, from his throne of misery and television viewing luxury. He rarely spoke to anyone whenever football was on and so I had been surprised to see him tear his eyes away from the television, where the San Francisco 49ers were thrashing the New England Patriots thirty to seven.

"I don't get it," I whined impatiently, now getting a little frustrated.

"Peter basically has a talent, just as you and I do, Bella. He used to claim that he was merely intuitive and smart, until it became apparent that his talent was definitely supernatural, since in reality he's not all that smart." He winked at me then and I giggled. "He describes it as basically 'just knowing shit' but it's obviously far more complex. It's not like Alice's skill or even Siobhan's, who can almost force her will into existence. He just seems to know things, things it should be impossible for him to know or for _anyone _to know. He will know the exact location of this house from wherever he is. Chances are he'll probably know about our mating and of Victoria's threats too. Like I said, he just knows shit and none of us can figure it out at all. I know he was exactly this way in his human life too although obviously in not as supernatural a sense. He just knew exactly how he should direct his troops and how to make good decisions and this allowed him to rise quickly through the ranks, just as I did," Jasper explained, his tone fond as he described his Captain, his second in command.

"And what about Charlotte?" I asked timidly. I realized then that I felt both nervous and intimidated at the prospect of meeting two people who had known Jasper for far longer than I had, than any of the Cullens had. These people had been present at the time of Maria's army and therefore they would have a bond with Jasper that I did not. I felt a strange pang of jealousy and was immediately shocked with myself for feeling such a way. If truth be told, they both seemed like incredible people. I was just terrified of meeting the two people that Jasper valued just as much, if not more than his family, our family. Would these people be just as accepting of me as the Cullens were? I began to work myself into a state, not noticing Jasper's golden eyes watching me intently, feeling everything I felt.

I caught his eye when I realized that he would know exactly how nervous I was. He did not say anything; he just shifted closer toward me, opening up his arms, allowing me to crawl into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my head into his shoulder; reveling in the comfort it brought me to be so close to him.

"You just don't listen, do you?" Jasper whispered, his voice sounding both chastising and amused at the same time.

I was still slightly offended when I lifted my head up to ask, "Why?"

"Peter _knows shit_. I already told you, he will already know you. He will know you and he will love you already. Charlotte loves everyone. Don't worry, babe. You're fine." Jasper smiled at me reassuringly.

I decided to drop it, feeling a little better. I made a few light hearted comments about the creepiness of a stranger who knows everything _loving _me and the boys went on to cheer San Francisco to victory.

"Why exactly are you even supporting San Francisco? Shouldn't you be supporting the Seahawks?" Rose asked, sounding bemused as she looked up from her Rebecca Young novel.

"Well, we don't want to waste our West Coast pride on mediocre teams, Rose. We support _winners_!" Emmett shouted, gesturing toward Jasper with some sort of aerial handshake that instigated them both to grunt and growl at each other. This excited growl-grunting led them to the forest where they could be heard even miles from the house chanting between themselves as they hunted. Emmett would roar, "WHO'S GOT IT BETTER THAN US?!" and Jasper would respond enthusiastically with, "NOOOOO-BODY!"

Needless to say, they returned home hungry after having scared away all the inhabitants of the forest, who were probably, as Rosalie pointed out, Seahawks fans.

That afternoon, the graceful pattering of two sets of feet could be heard, miles away, racing along the forest floor. We gathered on the front lawn, awaiting our guests. Emmett was excited to have another male to watch sports with and Rosalie was looking forward to having a new shopping partner. She was not the fanatic that Alice was, but since I never showed much gusto for it, she needed time in the city with someone on a par with her enthusiasm. All of them knew Peter and Charlotte well, since they had been to visit Jasper many times over the years and they had all had time to get to know one another. Even Peter already knew me somehow. I would be the only one walking into the dark, something that made me feel much more nervous than I thought it would do. I tried to calm myself as their arrival became imminent but I could not shake the persistently niggling feeling of anxiety. I shut off my emotions to Jasper with my shield. He squeezed my hand regardless, possibly knowing the catalyst for me blocking him _was _my anxiety itself.

They entered the clearing that was the front lawn almost languidly, their relaxed postures expressing that they posed no threat. Both of them were beautiful. As they neared, however, something startled me, frightened me. I hissed and threw my body backwards, feeling my shield come up immediately in a desperate attempt to protect myself.

It was their eyes, those eyes that I had only ever seen on _human drinkers._ They were as scarlet as they had been on Aro, Jane and _her_. Victoria. The very color haunted me and I did not know how to react; I fell mercy to my newborn senses, falling into a defensive crouch and hissing menacingly at the new arrivals. My fury led to a primitive state of mind and I watched as the six vampires whispered amongst themselves, the golden eyes clouding over with worry and the scarlet ones with puzzlement and…concern.

_Odd_, I thought, narrowing my eyes. _Human drinkers aren't known for being particularly compassionate_.

The scarlet eyed one was tiny in demeanor and began to approach me warily, eyes down, neck exposed. I hissed at her to warn her but she seemed unfazed. When she was around ten feet away, having ignored my hissing, she stopped and made eye contact with me.

I did not know what to expect in that moment, but it certainly wasn't a smile. Still, she did smile. It was a brilliant, radiantly warm and kind smile. Strangely enough, as I began heard her whisper softly for a hug, she reminded me somewhat of my mother, or of how a mother should be. Since being a small child, I had craved a mother since my own did not have a maternal bone in her body. At that moment, I realized just how much I missed Esme.

I dropped my shield and she came to hug me, followed by Peter who was just as warm and friendly.

"Hiya, Bells!" he said, grinning broadly. "I'm Peter."

"Hi," I said shyly, looking down, sure that if I were human, I'd be blushing right now.

"Look, I know it's weird for you that I already know so much about you, but I'll give you a little chance to catch up with me. _The Great Gatsby _is my favorite modern classic and although I am now a member of the Immortal, I am still deathly afraid of spiders." He winked then and I laughed, immediately feeling much safer.

Jasper led us all inside, explaining that I was still a newborn and though I possessed incredible self control, I was still prone to primitive responses and it was totally normal and something I should not be worried about or sorry for.

Within the next hour, I felt just as comfortable with them as I did with Emmett and Rose. They were the kind of people that made you feel at ease, the kind of people that were interested in what you had to say. However, they were also interesting themselves. They seemed to be made for each other, two halves of the same whole, with Peter's mischievous spark and Charlotte's strong and caring personality. Both had great senses of humor and told me stories of Jasper that earned them stern glares mumbled threats of dismemberment from Jasper.

"Make yourself useful, Captain, and tell us what you know," Jasper said, clearly bored of the topic and wanting to get into the business of battle. I could see it now as I had not when I was human - Jasper was a born leader.

Peter lowered his eyes, seeming surprisingly reluctant. When he spoke, it was with a grave tone, "Major, the South is rumbling with rumors that the God of War has found his soulmate in a powerful shield vampire. It seems that Maria was then contacted by the redhead vampire who's been plaguing you, and now they have formed an alliance. Maria is still heavily involved in the Southern wars that simmer underground, waiting to boil over. She wants a shield for herself, especially one as powerful as Bella's here. She has been collecting, Jasper and she keeps trying to better herself each time. Her current Major, Harry has the power to control people and influence their will heavily. The redhead just wants to see Bella and you dead. Edward appears to be dancing along the lines of partnership and relationship with Victoria and since both want to see you and Bella dead, Maria is only too happy to use this, and their knowledge, to her advantage. Maria just wants Jasper back because..." he paused then, glancing at me with careful eyes, "Because he's '_a good fuck_'."

I growled then, a deep sound rumbling from my chest and edged closer to Jasper. _Mine._

"Maria and Victoria have set up a newborn army, based on Maria's own creations, in Seattle."

Everyone was stunned into silence, and they remained mute as Peter switched on the news where a strict looking female broadcaster with a severe voice reported the mass killings in Seattle that were still unresolved and had no leads. Suddenly, everything fell into place. Victoria had been plotting this whole time; she had not been underground waiting for an opportunity to attack alone as we had though. No, she had been much smarter than that. She would get newborns of superhuman strength to do her job for her and to attack my family.

And that is what she meant by them "all" coming for me.

"Charlotte and I will be staying with you to fight," Peter declared. He looked at me then, "And for the record, we will be changing to an animal diet."

I decided from then on that there really had been no reason at all to be wary of Peter and Charlotte.

The Denalis were contacted later that night by Rosalie, who was the closest here to the Alaskan family. She came off the phone an hour later, seeming rather fatigued. The Denalis were still furious with the wolves for killing Lauren. However, since Edward had bailed on us and we had moved far away, they were much angrier with him for disowning their "family". Irina had completely refused to come to Mount Rainier but the rest of the family agreed that they would fight alongside us. They also told Rosalie that they were looking forward to meeting their new cousin and to see the bond between Jasper and myself. Rosalie had remarked that it was quite incredible, calling me her "sister" on more than one occasion and making my heart swell with pride.

That night, whilst the men reviewed the 49ers game, I lay down, resting my head in Jasper's lap and missing my human ability to sleep as a bundle of nerves tightened in my stomach at the thought of what was to come.

By the time the sky lightened, I devised several different ways to get to Victoria before she got to me. Each of them was as likely to fail as the next, seeing as I could not take on a whole army of newborn vampires and two older vampires on my own. I so wanted to though, to keep my family out of trouble. I had to remind myself not to be stupid and try to sacrifice myself as my human self did, as it usually only made things worse. I had to think about other people instead of playing the martyr and accept that we would get through this as a team. Peter, Charlotte and Jasper were all skilled at handling newborns, so with my newfound strength and good sense, and their experience, we would be fine.

As the morning crept closer, a discussion began about what we would be doing today. I was not listening intently as I was watched Ellen interview some quiet, shy, beautiful actress from some supernatural teen movie about her relationship with her on screen boyfriend, who it was rumored was also her off screen boyfriend.

"How about we all go and visit Carlisle and Esme?" Rose suggested. "They'll really want to see you two and Bella hasn't seen them since she left."

Everyone agreed, giving up their suggestions of the Space Needle or Pier 59 and Rose rung them to inform them of our arrival, only to be mocked by Alice for forgetting that she would already know. Rose came off the phone, muttering curses about "that snide fucking psychic", and storming upstairs to get changed. I followed her up and went to mine and Jasper's room to change also. When I looked in the wardrobe however, I found only a short scarlet bandage minidress where previously all my clothes had been.

"Who-?" I started to say, turning and finding Rose standing in the doorway with a dangerous smirk on her face and a beautiful little black halter neck dress that was equally as short as mine.

"Wow," I said, staring at how gracefully accentuated her curves were.

"You like it? It's Chanel, darling!" she said dramatically, flipping her blonde mane.

I laughed. "Where have all my clothes gone and why has this replaced it?"

"Don't worry, it's your size! I just think it's important that you look beautiful. Also, I wouldn't mind Alice thinking that I've managed to instill an extravagant fashion sense into you, where she failed." We both giggled and I put the dress on, admiring how my curves had filled out and my legs had lengthened to give me a stunning figure that the dress emphasized. I was speechless.

"You're riding with Jasper in his Aston Martin so we'll meet you there," she said with a very suggestive grin that I returned. There was no doubt about it, I looked good in this dress and when I went downstairs to greet Jasper, I was rewarded with the hungry look in his eyes.

The others had already left and Jasper wrapped a strong arm around my waist and I was very aware of him touching me through the thin material of my dress. He brashly half-led, half-dragged me to the garage beside the house where his electric blue Aston Martin one-77 stood. He opened the door for me, climbed in on the driver's side and set off. We drove in silence, while I stole hungry looks at the muscles rippling in his arms and at his face in my peripheral vision while he drove. He seemed to be doing the same at my tits and my legs. Neither of us spoke until we were somewhere near Olympia. We hit extremely heavy traffic and were at a total stand still when he said, "You look fuck hot, Bells". I surprised myself by smirking and sticking my tongue out at him. He held my gaze in those eyes that were so full of passion; it looked like they'd be set alight as he leaned toward me. I leaned toward him too and our lips met. This kiss did not need to build up, it was already as passionate and as fiery as his eyes as he placed a strong hand in my hair, twisting it in his hands and pulling my face closer to his. His warm breath washed over my face as he whispered, "mine," moving down to kiss my neck. He undid his and my seatbelt swiftly and with one last glance at the seemingly eternal traffic jam, he lifted me easily onto his lap where I straddled him in the bucket seat of his car, my hair falling on his face as he nipped at my neck lightly and placed fluttering kisses along my collarbone. His hands slid from my waist down to cup and squeeze my ass and I moaned at the feeling, tightening my grip on his hair.

His other hand went up to my breasts, where he grasped at one, no hesitation in his grip which was somehow still not tight enough.

"Jasper?" I whispered into his curls.

"Yes, baby?" he drawled, his lips skimming my chest.

"I want you to fuck me." I said it with conviction. He looked up at me and as he did, with hunger and love burning in his eyes, his hand came up from my ass to grasp at the fabric of my dress and in one clean movement, he ripped it clean from my body, disposing of the fabric somewhere at his feet.

"Jasper! Other people might-" I squealed.

"Relax, baby. Tinted windows, even in the windscreen," he told me, running his hands up and down my body, drinking in every inch of me, pulling at my hair, causing me to moan heavily at the sensation once again.

I unbuttoned his jeans underneath me and desperately scrambled to position him at my wet entrance as Jasper slammed into me and I moaned, biting my lip, throwing my head back as his mouth latched onto my nipple, sucking and licking. He kept one hand steady on my waist as his pounded into me again and again, while the other came up to my other breast, tweaking my nipple and grasping at the weight in his hands. He was relentless and he grunted, meeting my eyes with that ferocious look, as I kissed him haphazardly and he growled, speeding up and moving the hand from my breast to my ass, where he squeezed with a strength that was completely unrestrained. He was losing it here, buried deep inside me, in this car, with me. Jasper Whitlock was losing control while we fucked in the driver's seat of his Aston Martin. This doubled with the feeling of him fucking me wildly was my undoing.

"Jasper," I groaned, closing my eyes in the pleasure.

"Baby, open your eyes," he ordered.

I took his order and we locked eyes, the feeling of my imminent orgasm, clouding reality just as he growled, "_Mine_," simultaneously slamming into me one last time just as I came apart, just as he released too. We held each other as the waves of pleasure carried us away and he kissed my neck softly. I buried my head in his shoulder.

"I love you, Jasper."

"I love you, Bella." Jasper looked over my shoulder then and gently nudged me to the shotgun seat and reached for the wheel as the traffic finally started moving.

I sat in the seat, feeling a little vulnerable due to being naked and Jasper sensed it as he said, "Check under your seat." I did so and found a pair of blue jeans and a black tank top with a note pinned to it saying, "Just in case," in an elegant font.

It occurred to me then that maybe Rosalie wasn't actually bothered at all whether Alice thought she'd instilled a good fashion sense into me or not.

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**A/N: Ah! We meet again, my chums! I am once again very sorry for the late update. I had actually had this ready for a while but for many unforseeable circumstances, it took a while to be posted.  
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**I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series and the Perks of Being a Wallflower too and obviously, you'll know how distracting they are.  
**

**Any comments on the Polyjuice Potion not changing their voices in the Harry Potter films will be warmly welcomed since that is genuinely a problem for me. :')  
**

**I promise I'll be updating faster from now on too.  
**

**So, REVIEW! What did you think about the sex in the car? ;) Did you like that they support the 49ers or is that something you'd like changed? **

**And more importantly, what do you think will happen with Victoria and Maria?!  
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**And what on _earth _will Alice say when Jasper and Bella show up at the Cullen house smelling of sex? ;D  
**

**Make sure you REVIEW and check out my fabulous Betas! See you next time.  
**


	13. Chapter 14

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! However, I purchased a canary yellow iPod Nano the other day and it is my baby. Also, I wish I owned Jenna Marbles but I do not.  
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******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

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**Thank you to bloodofbeckie for being fabulous. Sadly, she's on sick leave. Get well soon, you fantastic human being!**

**Thanks to both tigga123 and Breedy95 for being my temporary Betas. They are made of intelligence.  
**

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_I'll never let the two of us be friends._

_Does it hurt?_

_Underdog, just look at the mess you made_

_It's such a shame, a shame we had to find out this way._

**_- YouMeAtSix, Underdog_**

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**PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 12:  
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_"I love you, Jasper."_

_"I love you, Bella." Jasper looked over my shoulder then and gently nudged me to the shotgun seat and reached for the wheel as the traffic finally started moving._

_I sat in the seat, feeling a little vulnerable due to being naked and Jasper sensed it as he said, "Check under your seat." I did so and found a pair of blue jeans and a black tank top with a note pinned to it saying, "Just in case," in an elegant font._

_It occurred to me then that maybe Rosalie wasn't actually bothered at all whether Alice thought she'd instilled a good fashion sense into me or not._

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**Bella's POV**

Jasper and I reached Forks, not long after we had fucked in his car due to the speed at which he drove his prized Aston Martin. As we turned left into the long snaking Cullen drive, I felt a strange sense of apprehension at seeing Alice again. I felt uneasy about the strange way she'd so readily accepted Jasper and I without batting an eyelid, regardless of whether she had foreseen it or not.

Perhaps it was the fact that Rose and I had gotten so close or that she was Jasper's ex, but I began to feel a strange mistrust and wariness when the thought of her entered my mind. As the big white house came into view and I saw the figures of Carlisle, Esme and Alice, I decided it would be best to put it out of my mind - mistrusting a family member on the grounds of a "feeling" would be laughable in the eyes of the rest of the family. Still, I couldn't help feeling that same apprehension at seeing her again.

"You okay, babe?" Jasper asked me, sensing my emotions.

"Yeah, I'm just nervous," I replied, smiling and squeezing his hand to reassure him.

Jasper parked up in front of the house, not bothering to take the car into the garage just yet. As I stepped out of the car, I felt Alice's lithe, tiny body hit me with a force that was over the top, even for a vampire.

"Oh, Bella, how I've missed you!" she gushed, batting her eyelids at me, giving me a sickly sweet smile. There was that feeling again, that wariness kicking in. Perhaps I looked into her tawny eyes slightly too long because a flicker of confusion crossed her face for a moment.

I stammered, "You, too. I-"

Esme came to my rescue, cutting in to embrace me as a mother would. She led me inside to sit down, telling me of everything that had happened in our absence, while Peter and Charlotte caught up with Carlisle. Apparently, Carlisle had contacted all of his friends to rally up support against the newborn army and Victoria. Unfortunately, many did not want to involve themselves in such a risky situation by opposing Maria, a well renowned veteran of war, or Edward. Many of Carlisle's friends were also acquainted with Edward and preferred to stay neutral, choosing to neither condone nor criticize the "switch around" (as Carlisle's friend Amun had called it) of mates. Some refused to even acknowledge the return of newborn armies and so preferred to remain ignorant.

Still, one of Carlisle's friends, Garrett, had declared his full support and imminent arrival to the big white house.

I spent the rest of the evening with my family gathered around me as they told me about Garrett, Carlisle and Jasper doing most of the talking. Garrett was an old patriot and had participated in the Revolutionary war. He harbored a deep respect for Jasper and Peter, as fellow soldiers themselves. Having been a nomad all his immortal life, he had said he could do with some company.

After we had spoken about Garrett, the night became more jovial, as the family relayed an endless stream of comedic anecdotes about their various vampire lives, mostly told by Carlisle, Peter, Charlotte and Jasper. All night, I barely took my eyes off Jasper's beautiful, chiseled face, tempted to pinch myself because I was far too lucky to be his. Because of this, I could not fail to notice Jasper glancing at Alice with the same wary expression in his eyes that I had felt. She sat in the corner of the room, very much out of things, looking much more like an observer than a participant.

That next week, I watched her closely.

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary and so all I could do was tell myself to stop being paranoid. That didn't stop me watching her, regardless.

I had other things on my mind anyway. Between making love to Jasper, spending time with my family and learning more about myself, both as a person and a vampire, I wasn't all that interested in Alice's potential envy or her deeply unhealthy obsession with shopping. Alice had seemingly taken to plaguing Charlotte into being her shopping partner, frequently bringing up how close they had become during her marriage to my mate. Charlotte seemed more reluctant to go shopping with Alice than she was about the idea of slaughtering a newborn army, and had taken to leaving the room whenever Alice entered, giving a pointed look at anyone from the Rainier house.

I learned that while I was superbly strong, my newborn strength was beginning to wane a little. I was not exceptionally fast, but I possessed strength and I had developed a perfect control over my powers. I learnt that I preferred swimming to running and I preferred mountain lion to bear.

A week after we arrived, Garrett and the Denalis arrived. We had been informed that Irina would not be joining them. She was furious with the wolves and had declared that she would only be joining the fray if our family gave permission for her to hunt down the wolves. Of course, Carlisle refused and so Irina would be staying in Alaska.

The rest of the Denalis were all beautiful. The sisters vaguely resembled some sort of Scandinavian ice queen, yet they greeted me with the intimate warmth of family. Tanya was sweet and calm, a quiet sort of confidence about her, in contrast to the sharp, fiery confidence of Kate. Carmen and Eleazar were both as confident and as kind, quietly passionate about each and every one of the family.

Garrett arrived a few hours after them and swept into the house as if he had always been there and had just returned from a grocery trip. As he shook hands with Peter, who was next to me, he spoke with a deep reverence that suggested he was an understated man.

He turned to me then and extended a hand, surveying me with red eyes and a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Bella."

"It's nice to meet you too, Garrett. I've heard a lot about you," I told him, unable to stop myself smiling back. He was one of those people who had a youth in his eyes and a kind smile that would never have given away his former role in the war.

"All bad, I presume?" he guessed in a jovial tone that somehow also sounded quite grim.

"Oh no! I've heard of how skilled you were in the wars! You must have been a fantastic soldier, Garrett!" And I meant it.

"Sadly, I was the worst a soldier could get. True, I was good at my job, but the amount of bloodshed I caused was not something to be condoned," he murmured, looking towards where Carmen and Charlotte were sitting together on the couch, laughing loudly at a joke Emmett had made.

"At least you stood up for what you believed in. You might have saved a lot of lives too," I said, unable to fathom why I so respected this man and why I didn't want him to torture himself over what he had done.

He looked at me then for a long moment and then his face split into a wry smile. "You are a very strange person, Bella Cullen."

"I know," I said with so much pride, and such a brash grin, that he laughed just as heartily as Charlotte and Carmen had at Emmett's jokes.

The next day, Alice flounced into the living room with an expression that could only mean one thing.

"Time for_ SHOPPING_!" she screeched and all of the girls slouched back into the sofa a little further, hoping to disappear from her view. I was quite safe due to the fact that Alice was beginning to sense my uneasiness towards her and was starting to avoid me a little. That suited me just fine. There was still an awkward air around Alice and Rose since the slapping incident so Rose would be safe from being dragged around Seattle for hours looking for clothes she didn't have an interest in, hearing Alice babble about empire waist gowns and the difference between silk and satin. It was the Denalis and Charlotte that needed to be worried.

Sure enough, a squeal of "Charlotte!" escaped the pixie's mouth and she streaked over to Charlotte and reached out a dainty pale hand. Charlotte gave Alice a look that made it apparent that she would rather strangle herself with the clothes Alice would pile in her direction today, than hear her prattle on about, "well, silk is obviously a little stronger than satin and you're going to need your _lingerie _to be strong with _our _type of man, right?!" I could practically see the phony wink Alice would give Charlotte, probably totally forgetting she didn't have _any _man anymore. I had to fake a cough to cover up a loud snort at the disgusted expression on Rosalie's face.

Regardless, Charlotte was sentenced to a day of shopping with Alice. Just before they left the house, Charlotte mouthed, "_Do something!" _desperately in Peter's direction. He just smirked; glad he'd gotten out of it.

The rest of us went into the garden to begin training, led by Jasper, Peter and Garrett. It was a surprisingly sunny day, the rays staining the usually dank shades of green grass a rich emerald. I sat on the grass, soaking up the feel it tickling my sparkling skin, watching as the light shimmered on Jasper's biceps as he crossed his arms over his white t shirt and surveyed the rest of us on the grass with a sexy commanding glare. He caught my eye with a smoldering look and I couldn't help wanting him- and he knew it.

"So, obviously you all know about the powers we have here, you know our strengths and weaknesses," Jasper told us all, pacing from where Carlisle sat with Esme past Rose, Emmett and I, to where the Denalis were gathered together. "But, our newest member, Bella is still a mystery to you-", Peter cleared his throat at this loudly, causing Jasper to roll his eyes and mutter, "except for the omniscient of us."

"I'm going to get you all straight into training. Kate, Bella!" Kate and I stood and went to stand by Jasper, facing each other. I smiled at Kate timidly and she answered me with a dazzling smile of her own.

"Kate, I want you to give Bella your best shot." Kate opened her mouth to protest, but Jasper cut in, "just trust me".

"Bella, just do your best to stop her." I must have looked terrified because he squeezed my hand reassuringly and whispered, "Trust me," in my ear, grazing his lips around the shell of my ear. I shivered and let my mental shield fan out over my skin, unyielding and invisible.

Kate reached out for my hand as if she was going to shake it and as her skin touched mine, I waited for something that did not happen. Kate's expression went from confused to annoyed to completely frustrated and after about thirty seconds of teeth gritting and growling, she cried, "Can't you feel it?!"

"Feel what?"

"The shocks!" She was staring at me incredulously.

It was Eleazar who spoke up from his place by Carmen on the grass. Carlisle had told me he had the ability to tell what other vampires' abilities were. "Bella has the power to shield herself from both a mental attack and a physical attack."

"_Physical?"_ was the synchronized question that came from everyone over by the grass. Kate took several paces back and I couldn't help a slight smile play across my lips.

"Yup," Jasper said proudly.

The rest of the day was spent practicing with my shield. Time and time again, Kate would charge towards me with all of her might, but no matter how hard she tried she would end up on her ass. Garrett would repeatedly make his way over to help her up with a soft look in his eye. Kate would just grin sheepishly and look up at him from under her eyelashes. A look between Jasper and I told me that there was something beginning between them and for the first time I began to feel excitement, rather than fear, towards what was coming.

Charlotte arrived late that evening with a look in her eyes that could kill. She charged onto the lawn and glared at each of us in turn, looking as if she did not know with whom she was most angry with.

"You know what that little pretentious fucking pixie did?!" Charlotte yelled in Rose's direction.

"What, Charlotte?" Rosalie said, her lips tightly squeezed together to prevent her giggles escaping. Emmett was grinning beside her.

"Not only did she drag my sorry ass around every designer shop we could find, _and yes she did go on about lingerie and silk_, she _then _decides she wants to go to a _fucking restaurant. _I'm sat there, feeling sorry for myself just thinking I could fake being on a diet but then as the waiter comes over, _she asks me what I want!" _Charlotte sounded hysterical.

We could all see where this was going.

"So, I'm sitting there and I say, 'you pick for me, Alice', because I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what the fuck it is that humans eat these days and that was where I went wrong!" She glared at us all with a tortured look in her eye and we waited. And we waited.

"_Do you fuckers know how shitty mushroom ravioli in some dirty what-the-fuck-is-white-wine-in-a-spinach-and-tarragon-cream-sauce tastes?!" _

Although it may be ironic, it would not be an understatement to say everyone howled with laughter.

"Where's Alice then?" Esme asked, still grinning.

"I left her! I couldn't handle it! I said I was getting tempted by all the humans, so I just bolted and left her with all the shopping! I was going to sit there and eat the whole meal but I'd had a few bites and it just _wasn't _worth it! I'm sorry, Esme, I know she's your daughter but she's a pretentious bitch at the best of times!" Charlotte complained, stalking into the house to, judging from the sounds of it, throw up the ravioli.

I held my breath for her then, not sure how Esme was going to react, but to my surprise, she laughed.

Alice returned hours later, bragging about her self control to anyone who would listen and was present whilst Charlotte was in the same room. "I know how difficult it is to retain self control but _I _manage it, Charlotte. I pity you, really. You cannot appreciate luxury but it is okay. I'll help you, Charlotte and we can do it again!" Charlotte merely muttered things under her breath that sounded a lot like, _"Go to hell, midget_" and "_At least I have a man to rip silk off me, bitch_."

Alice eventually went quiet and as we settled down in the living room, laughing, she was once again sitting a little on the outside of the loose circle we'd made around the coffee table. Jasper and I cuddled up on the sofa and he pulled me into his lap, occasionally pausing his participation in the group conversation to kiss my neck and whisper, "I love you," in my ear.

A few hours into the night, her expression suddenly went blank and her eyes seemed to be seeing something that we could not. We all went silent. As she seemed to return back to earth, shaking her head, she looked anxiously towards Carlisle.

"What? What did you see, Alice?" Carlisle asked, leaning towards her as he would a patient. I felt Jasper tense around me.

"They're sending a scout tomorrow at ten to see what we have in our armory and what we can do." Her face seemed sure but Peter, across the table from her furrowed his brow and exchanged a swift look with Jasper.

"They'll come in from the east and circle the back lawn, grazing the trees. But I can see us, stood protecting the house. Emmett and Jasper will give chase but the scout is _fast_. He'll get away." She looked so _sure _of herself but I felt uneasy at the way Peter was glancing around.

Carlisle seemed to notice this. "Are you sure, Alice? What do you think, Peter?"

Peter could hardly wait to speak up. "I can't feel anything. It seems to me that there's nothing to worry about," he said in a clipped tone, stealing a sideways glance at Alice.

"Well, you're wrong. Your gift is a lot more temperamental than mine, Peter. You only _feel _things! I actually see things," she said arrogantly, giving Peter a poisonous look.

"Well, that's bullshit," I remarked, unable to stop myself.

"Excuse me?" Alice was looking at me as if I had personally insulted her.

"The amount of times you saw me dead are impossible to count. It's not exactly a reliable source." She was glaring at me now, but I held my ground.

She cocked her eyebrow at me and sneered, "I also saw you with _my _ex."

I was about to scream profanities at her but I was knocked onto my side as Jasper stood up swiftly.

"I am _not _yours, Alice. I never was. I am _Bella's _mate. Get that into your tiny little mind and get over your bitter little bitch fit. Frankly, it's embarrassing."

My heart swelled with pride at his words. He sat down, and pulled me back into his lap, whispering, "_Sorry_," and all there was to do was to high five him.

"Can we all just calm down?" Carlisle asked, sounding tired. He covered his eyes with his hand, sighing, in a very human movement. "We have divided opinions. Both powers have been known to be temperamental, am I right?" Reluctantly, both Peter and Alice nodded, Alice looking like if she had functioning tear ducts, she'd be sobbing. It was pathetic. "The best thing to do is to just protect the house and our family and capture the scout. If there's a chance that we could get attacked, we have nothing to lose from protecting the house. Besides, it may be good for us to practice."

None of us could disagree with this and so the next day, at 9.55am, we were all in an arrow shaped formation, waiting in silence for the scout. I was at the helm with Kate, flexing my shield. Kate was crouched and growling quietly towards the line of trees. Behind me, I could sense the rest of my family and friends crouching in anticipation, the occasional growl from Carmen, Kate or Tanya. I tried to ignore them and focused on my own senses. I paid attention to every murmur of the wind, the rustle of the trees, and every twitch in my vision, the insects crawling across the forest floor, unaware of our sharp, alert watch. I gasped as a deer pranced into view, glancing around the forest, edging towards the lawn cautiously, before it sensed us, predator of predators, and bolted. Minutes passed with no hint of anything and eventually, when those minutes had turned into an hour, Rose wheeled and snapped at Alice, "_We/? _Where is this scout?"

"Rose," Carlisle warned, trying to disperse any potential conflict that might get out of hand.

"I- I don't know," Alice stammered, looking from the ground to Carlisle. "I really thought he was coming."

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Tanya said, clearly irritated that we had waited here for nothing, for something that was never going to come.

"No, honest, I really saw someone!" She was holding Tanya's gaze in an effort to express her sincerity, once again looking on the verge of tears that could not be shed.

"I did say that I didn't feel anything," Peter said, as if it was some kind of competition, Carmen nodding fervently behind him.

"Look, Alice's visions are temperamental, we all know that. Maybe Victoria is playing with the blind spots in Alice's vision and trying to manipulate us. Let's just go inside, calm down and be glad that they haven't made another move yet. And we did get to practice!" Carlisle was once again trying to dissolve the animosity that was building up against Alice within the group. We all respected Carlisle and although we were trying to hide it, all of us were just relieved that they had not sent a scout- that would have brought the prospect of war far too close to home and would have forced us to think about it seriously. Right now, we preferred to act like it wasn't going to happen and we were all relying on Alice and Peter to give us a forecast on when trouble would arise. But now I came to think about it, I was feeling nervous about leaving our family's fate to Alice if her visions were really that temperamental.

Something was still not right and the more time that went on, the surer of it I was. I just wasn't sure what to do about it and whether it was just me being paranoid.

**Edward's POV**

The highway was dark aside from the glow of red lights dotting my vision as I sped past them. Even in the dark, her flaming red hair was still visible in my peripheral vision in the passenger seat, like a beacon of anger or passion. I held the phone to my ear and I heard the speaker's high, sing song voice relaying information to me.

"And Bella has a _physical _shield too. It's not weak, it's incredibly powerful and she blew Kate right out of the water. Kate's strong too, and Peter's one to watch. He knew I was lying, he knew there was no scout. I'll have to watch that. Emmett and Rose are as obnoxious and arrogant as ever, they will not know what's coming to them. Jasper and Bella's mating is only intensifying their powers, so they'll be damn hard to beat. They're brutal together, even when they're not in battle but when they're separated, their rational thinking will be overpowered by their concern for each other. We'll have to talk that over with Maria; she's the one with the most battle experience."

I stopped her there. "We will _not _be harming Bella. Bella is mine; Maria has promised that I can have her when this is over. _I will get her back. _She will pay for her indiscretions."

"It is a good fucking job she recruited Chelsea to the cause so she manipulate their feelings back to normal. I'll have my Jasper too. Maria promised. If I have to listen to them canoodling and making out like teenagers anymore, I'll rip her head off." I growled at her for that and she backtracked quickly, stumbling over her words. "I'm just joking, obviously! It's just clear to me that they should not be near each other; they're far too flamboyant, especially about _sex, _Edward. They've both poisoned each other- you should hear them when they think no one is listening. It sounds all so ferocious and impure!"

"Can you see now why she should have just stayed human?" I growled, unable to block the intrusive image of Jasper and Bella together.

"Yes. I knew they'd end up together anyway because they both have impure tendencies. I had to tell them about my visions anyway, so I had time to act like I supported them, so the whole family trusted me. We planned it well, Edward." Her voice sounded solemn. We had indeed played our parts well.

Victoria had been silent this whole time, but her hand snaked over to my crotch and she began caressing the area softly, not bothering to look at me.

"Well done. Check in with me tomorrow. I'll contact you with your next order tomorrow. Make sure you're ready." I just wanted the bitch off the phone now as Victoria put more pressure as she grasped and I had to stifle a moan.

"Will do! I'll just cause as much trouble as I can for now," she told me cheerily.

"Bye, Alice." And with that, I hung up as Victoria leaned over, pulling my pants down, puckering up her lips as she went down on me. I needed this with all that Alice had just told me about my girl being with that soldier boy. At least, I needed the next best thing. So I continued driving through the night, thrusting into Victoria's throat, closing my eyes, imagining _my _Bella.

* * *

**Long Author's Note: Hello beautiful humans! How many of you knew all along that Alice is a double crossing HOE? What did you think of Charlotte's shopping trip? What was your favourite bit of this chapter? **

**Also ladies, I did my research. Google tells me that silk really is stronger than satin.  
**

**Mostly I just wanna know how you're all feeling about Alice!  
**

**Also, I just want to take the time to thank all of you. I got such a great response about Beta-ing and everyone who did was just so lovely and so kind.  
**

**I literally couldn't pick who was the best out of these girls so I went and got myself 4 Betas and a pre-reader. I know, the "Thank you" section is going to be A LOT longer next time. Anyway, these fabulous girls are realjena, maddog20, The Original Bella, FallenRebelAngel and AbbeNormal. I am honoured to be working with these ladies.  
**

**On that note, I just want to let you know that whether you review, favourite or follow, thank you so much. It means a lot to me. I literally sit there for like an hour reading my email notifications, looking at all of your profiles and just feeling honoured. I didn't know I'd get such a great response. You're all absolutely brilliant people. Feel free to PM me anytime.  
**

**I also got a Twitter account specifically for fanfiction under 'rainbowweekend'. I follow back, so yeah, talk to me on there or whatever.  
**

**If you've got this far, you should review and tell me to stop being so soppy or tell me if you think mushroom ravioli really isn't so bad.  
**


	14. Chapter 15

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! However, I do currently have labyrinthitis and I've had it for so long that I just haven't been able to do anything or even write. I've just been a mess of inner ear ailments.  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

******Okay, so I got the Betas literally on this today and they _all _managed to do it today and bring a little spark of joy into my illness with their wit and beauty and general ways of being fabulous. They are **** realjena, maddog20, The Original Bella and FallenRebelAngel. I am so proud that I know them. They are the teabags to my cups of hot water. **  


* * *

_your eyes are the size of the moon,  
_

_you could 'cause you can, so you do,  
_

_we're feeling so good, just the way that we do  
_

_when it's nine in the afternoon.  
_

_- **Panic! at the Disco, Nine in the Afternoon**_

* * *

PREVIOUSLY IN CHAPTER 13:

_**Edward's POV**_

_The highway was dark aside from the glow of red lights dotting my vision as I sped past them. Even in the dark, her flaming red hair was still visible in my peripheral vision in the passenger seat, like a beacon of anger or passion. I held the phone to my ear and I heard the speaker's high, sing song voice relaying information to me._

_"And Bella has a physical shield too. It's not weak, it's incredibly powerful and she blew Kate right out of the water. Kate's strong too, and Peter's one to watch. He knew I was lying, he knew there was no scout. I'll have to watch that. Emmett and Rose are as obnoxious and arrogant as ever, they will not know what's coming to them. Jasper and Bella's mating is only intensifying their powers, so they'll be damn hard to beat. They're brutal together, even when they're not in battle but when they're separated, their rational thinking will be overpowered by their concern for each other. We'll have to talk that over with Maria; she's the one with the most battle experience."_

_I stopped her there. "We will not be harming Bella. Bella is mine; Maria has promised that I can have her when this is over. I will get her back. She will pay for her indiscretions."_

_"It is a good fucking job she recruited Chelsea to the cause so she manipulate their feelings back to normal. I'll have my Jasper too. Maria promised. If I have to listen to them canoodling and making out like teenagers anymore, I'll rip her head off." I growled at her for that and she backtracked quickly, stumbling over her words. "I'm just joking, obviously! It's just clear to me that they should not be near each other; they're far too flamboyant, especially about sex, Edward. They've both poisoned each other- you should hear them when they think no one is listening. It sounds all so ferocious and impure!"_

_"Can you see now why she should have just stayed human?" I growled, unable to block the intrusive image of Jasper and Bella together._

_"Yes. I knew they'd end up together anyway because they both have impure tendencies. I had to tell them about my visions anyway, so I had time to act like I supported them, so the whole family trusted me. We planned it well, Edward." Her voice sounded solemn. We had indeed played our parts well._

_Victoria had been silent this whole time, but her hand snaked over to my crotch and she began caressing the area softly, not bothering to look at me._

_"Well done. Check in with me tomorrow. I'll contact you with your next order tomorrow. Make sure you're ready." I just wanted the bitch off the phone now as Victoria put more pressure as she grasped and I had to stifle a moan._

_"Will do! I'll just cause as much trouble as I can for now," she told me cheerily._

_"Bye, Alice." And with that, I hung up as Victoria leaned over, pulling my pants down, puckering up her lips as she went down on me. I needed this with all that Alice had just told me about my girl being with that soldier boy. At least, I needed the next best thing. So I continued driving through the night, thrusting into Victoria's throat, closing my eyes, imagining my Bella._

* * *

**Bella's POV  
**

"No, Jasper, fuck off! Give me back the damn remote! I wanna watch the Real Housewives of Orange County!"

"Oh, please, you already know what happens. The snobby Christian one makes a sly comment towards the one who makes funny offside comments 'cause she's friends with the one who's boyfriend doesn't pay child support, she doesn't get involved and makes offside comments and then the old cranky one complains that her southern boyfriend who also doesn't pay child support shouldn't have to see all this fighting. And_ then_, there's never an actual fight and someone goes shopping and nearly gets married and the snobby dark one makes a comment about how she's better than everyone else and how they're all classless. Literally, I could write you this episode's storyline."

I came in the room just in time to see Rose snatch the remote back and give Jasper a look that when I was human, would've make me quell. Jasper just glared back defiantly, knowing he'd lost. I went to sit between them in complete silence while Jasper asked questions like, "Why does the old one's eyes pop out every episode?" and, "This is so fucking set up, it's untrue," while Rosalie sighed and gave him dirty looks. I let them banter around me, having been preoccupied for days now with what Alice was thinking.

At that moment, as if on cue, she danced into the room, landing lightly on the sofa so closely on Jasper's other side that I had to stop myself growling.

Alice leaned forward, trying to catch Rose's eye very unsubtly, batting her eyelashes all the while. "You know, Rosalie, there's no need to worry, no one ends up fighting. Vicki's just upset that Brooks has to see it."

All of our eyes remained glued to the screen, no one even bothering to acknowledge her. I rested my head on Rose's shoulder snuggling into her sweet smelling hair, showing Alice who my true sister was. Carlisle and Eleazar had gone to the hospital, Eleazar accompanying Carlisle, having applied to be his protégé for the time he and the Denalis stayed with us. Emmett was upstairs helping Tanya, Carmen and Esme with some decorating for the Denalis move in. Esme had taken to redesigning the Denalis section of the house to make them feel more at home.

"Isn't it sweet that Kate and Garrett have gone to Seattle with Peter and Charlotte for the day?" Alice pushed, her eyes boring into Rosalie's skull. We all kept our eyes steadfastly fixed on the screen, watching as one of the blonde girls spoke to a cosmetic surgeon about a nose job.

"Hey! Remember the time when Edward and Emmett had a wrestling match and-" but she had stopped at the look that Rose shot her, clearly stating that she was treading shallow water mentioning Edward and her mate in the same sentence.

The silence stretched out a little further with the petty blonde women squabbling over someone's husband making a comment about another blonde woman. My mind wandered to Jasper and the midnight blue sky and his tender murmurs while his flighty fingers graced my silky skin under the moon.

My trip down memory lane was shattered by Alice's tiny voice taking one final nip at us, leaning towards my mate. "Remember the time when we first met Bella and Jasper nearly drank her dry? Shows what he wants her for."

It happened so quickly. Jasper's head snapped to the right and a deep rumbling growl signalled that Alice's games were about to come to an abrupt and dark end. He was going to lose it. Before Alice, could "forsee" it, Jasper had taken her tiny body in one hand and thrown her across the room into the wall faster than any of us would've thought. The foundations of the house shook violently with the force of it and when Alice flipped her body off the wall, it revealed a strange and almost comical dent embedded into the wall.

Both Rosalie and I leapt up but said nothing, just glancing from Jasper to Alice; the latter was on her knees, glaring warily and silently at Jasper - in alarm. Within seconds, Esme, Carmen, Emmett and Tanya had burst into the room. Emmett remained frozen, while Esme and Carmen wore identical expressions of shock. Tanya however, dashed forward to help Alice to her feet. Alice wore a false martyr expression, looking down at her feet submissively. Tanya stood slightly in front of her in a protective stance.

I saw what they were seeing and it was all wrong. "No! She was winding him up! Don't let her fool you!" I shouted in alarm, my eyes flashing from face to face.

Silence.

"Look, I would never hit a woman. I'm a gentleman. I didnt-"

"But you did, Jasper. You threw me across the room," Alice whimpered, sounding on the verge of tears.

"Don't be a fucking drama queen! You wound him up!" Rose snarled, leaning towards Alice, only to be challenged by _Tanya_, who said in a sharp, authoritative voice, "Stop right there."

"What the hell are you doing supporting her?!" I bellowed the tension in the room palpable as I took a step in their direction. "You weren't there! She wouldn't stop! Esme, tell them!"

Esme seemed to snap out of her confusion, taking a stance of leadership and strength similar to one I'd seen in Carlisle. "Jasper would never have done it unprovoked. Alice has been causing a lot of trouble recently and I cannot see Jasper doing this without Alice provoking him. It's just not in his nature. Tanya, stop this nonsense. We have to stop giving her the attention."

Esme sounded firm and as Alice squeaked her horror at her final words; it looked like Esme was going to roll her eyes.

"Finally, Esme!" Emmett said, sighing in relief, speaking for the first time, as he went to put his arm around Rose who looked like her anger was rooting her to the floor. "We were waiting for you to come around!"

Esme nodded, just as Tanya asked, "You're going to let him get away with _abusing _a woman?" Alice nodded fervently behind her shoulder, her bottom lip quivering.

"Don't let her get to you, Tan! You know me!" Jasper pleaded, obviously hurt that Tanya would take Alice's side.

"I thought I did," Tanya replied solemnly. "I didn't think you would've ever hurt a woman."

This was all wrong. "No. Tanya, no! Why're you saying this? You're being a, a hypocrite!" Rose blurted out. Even though she was putting her friendship with Tanya Denali in jeopardy, Jasper came first to Rose, and she would _not_let Alice win this one. "You were fine when James, Laurent and Victoria were hunting Bella! And when Victoria was hunting Bella when we left! You guys said you would've helped when we talked to you about it afterward. You would've had minded if we'd have killed Victoria!" Rose was beginning to sound close to hysterical now; the betrayal in her voice evident, as she had always been closer to Tanya than Alice had. I moved towards her and reached for her hand, which she caught and clutched it as if it was a life-line. She knew, just as I did, that Alice seemed set on tearing our family apart. Just as Edward had attempted to.

"Alice isn't the bad guy here, Rose! You're letting your hatred of Edward poison your view on her and she _isn't_the villain!"

Jasper snarled quietly and I murmured, "That's what you think."

I was surprised by Tanya's reaction when she folded her arms and turned her poisonous glare to me, and I had to consciously stop myself from shrinking away from her cold metallic eyes.

"And what would you know? You've only been a part of _our_family for like a minute?"

Jasper's roar seemed to echo beyond the walls of the house, into the dank gloomy forest outside. I could hear all the creatures within a two mile radius fleeing as far as possible from the house in terror, due to the monstrous noise coming from right next to me. I didn't have time to feel hurt as I watched Rose at the exact same time begin to tear her way towards Tanya and Alice, her hands and nails outstretched, snarling.

I leapt to hold her back simultaneously with Emmett. As she struggled in our arms, I heard Tanya apologising profusely for her words, saying things like, "didn't mean it", "wasn't thinking" and "of course you're part of the family, Bella, honey." She couldn't understand Alice had gotten her way; that she had fallen for it.

When Rose had calmed down enough to be held back by just Emmett, Jasper led me upstairs to our room silently nodding stiffly towards Esme, who gave him a watery smile.

As we reached our room, we could hear Carmen and Esme trying to mediate the situation between Rose and Tanya. From the sounds of it, Alice was still in the corner of the room, exactly where Jasper had thrown her, saying nothing.

Jasper was as silent as his former lover as he slammed our bedroom door shut, wrapping his arms around me as he lifted me off the ground. He twisted my legs around his waist, kissing me ferociously. His big hands twisting in my hair, as he pulled my face to his; his passion and fury a fiery red. _We were red._

When he finally released me, he nearly dropped me on my ass before flying into one of the spare cupboards and pulling out four large suitcases. Two in each hand, he slammed them onto the bed, opening them quickly before he began filling them with clothes from the nearest wardrobe.

"Jasper, what are you doing?" I asked, puzzled as he pulled out his iPhone and began tapping away online.

"Baby, we're getting out of here for a while. We're going on vacation." He didn't bother watching as my jaw dropped. "Ever been to London?"

The car ride to Sea-Tac airport and then the flight to JFK were tense, with neither of us quite knowing what to say. The silence was almost deafening. It was a strange and urgent silence, confirming our underlying concern at recent events. Apparently we were both confused by our furious kissing, Jasper's outburst and Alice's behaviour. It seemed neither of us knew quite what to say and in any case, my thoughts were consumed by Alice's games. Were they trivial and childish? Was I being paranoid? Or was this possibly more sinister than I could imagine?

As we touched down at JFK and went to transfer to and board the plane to London Heathrow, Jasper's mood seemed to change, and as a result so did mine. We were seated in first class, in the ultimate luxury but the silence kept throughout take off. However, he kept shooting me suggestive glances, and it became almost a game not to giggle as he started pulling faces with each glance.

The break in the silence came as the seatbelt signs came off and I leapt up out of habit, knowing that on an airplane the rush to get to the toilet would be like a stampede. The reality of my folly hit me when I saw the look of inquisition in Jasper's eyes, as I simultaneously realised that I had no feeling of discomfort in my bladder.

There was a pause and then we both burst into hysterical laughter, doubling over and laughing so hard that other people in first class began staring. Jasper simply opened his arms wide to me in invitation, so I went to sit in his lap where he held me tightly in strong, warm familiar arms.

When I finally stopped giggling, he smiled at me and brushed a strand of hair away from my face. "That pixie is certainly a bitch, babe."

I gave him an array of kisses all over his beautiful features and said, "She sure is."

"That's why we're taking this little break, honey. I need a break... hell, _we_ need a break and some time alone. You deserve a rest and we need some fun and time without family. I'm going to treat you like a princess, Bella. And I know you hate it, but I'm not doing it because you're fragile and you need to be worshipped or bought, I'm doing it because you deserve the best. Plus I want to spend some quality time with you in a beautiful city because you deserve something beautiful. _You_are beautiful."

I grinned at him and for a moment, his eyes grew so soft and innocent that I felt like it was me holding him.

"Bella, you should really consider marrying me," he said without warning and so seriously that I nearly blurted out, "yes."

Instead, I subdued the shock and replied, "Jasper, you should really consider shutting up." He already knew how I felt about marriage. My mother and father were prime examples of why _I _didn't think I was ready right now.

There was nothing more to say, and so I remained in his arms for the remainder of the flight remainder of the flight, until I was forced back into my seat for landing, regardless of my attempts to dazzle the male flight attendants.

London was beautiful. The blend of tradition, nature and modern culture was so refined, so balanced; it was almost divine in this black limo as we wound our way through the centre of the city. As the limo took us through the heart of London, we found ourselves between luscious emerald forests stretching above rolling green lawns and metallic concrete jungles reaching into the dark silver skies adjacent to history in the famed landmarks of the city.

Maybe it was since I had become a vampire, but I was definitely starting to appreciate the beauty in luxury rather than being intimidated by it. I didn't need to shy away from it or to pretend I was just incredibly modest.

The limo pulled up outside a fancy hotel on Park Lane and Jasper got out first, holding out a hand to help me out. He smiled at me and I could feel his pride washing over me. At first, I thought it was because not once had I even felt the urge to drink any humans dry something which I Jasper thought might become a problem since we would be going without blood for five days, something he admitted might be hard even for him. But as he led me up the steps towards a hotel that would not have looked out of place right by Buckingham Palace, I realised the pride came from having me on his arm and I could not help but return that pride for being the girl on _his _arm.

He led me into the lobby and I began to notice people staring in our direction. At first, I kept glancing behind me; this was both a famous and extremely expensive hotel and the possibility of there being celebrities in our midst was high. Personally, I was hoping to see Jackson Rathbone, but then I realised they weren't staring at some high profile celebrity, they were staring at _us_.

Eyes followed our movement, women's snide comments and unsubtle nudges to their friends contrasting their husband's lusty stares and gaping mouths. The reverse seemed to be happening for the other side of the lobby where women practically drooled over my mate, hitching their skirts further up slender crossed legs, staring at him with naïve and predictable eyes.

I had not been around humans for so long and I was surprised at how I just could not feel the burn everyone described. I did not feel the urge to drink them, even though now I was inside, in a confined space with dozens of them. In fact, they smelled no more appealing than the fragile deer that wandered into the garden at home occasionally, unsuspecting yet unappealing to the world's most dangerous predator.

We reached the reception desk to find a lascivious looking woman with a girlish giggle and a mask of makeup. She too stared at my mate, almost biting her lip as her conniving eyes roved over Jasper's face and to his chest, where his muscles were pronounced under a cream sweater. With a desperately wide smile, so transparent it may as well been a wink, she handed over the keys to what she called the "Presidential Suite" and gestured for a bellhop to get our luggage. Jasper ignored her, pointedly pecking my lips with a brief, yet obvious, passion. And though her eyes followed Jasper, I made sure she caught my obvious glare in her peripheral vision as the bellhop led us towards a single glass elevator in a private section of the lobby.

We stepped inside, the bellhop following suit, clearly too intimidated to even make polite conversation. This was fine by me, for I was too enthralled with the seemingly weightless feeling that occurred as the elevator lifted us into the air. I was happy to watch the hotel lobby slip away underneath us as it carried us hundreds of feet up the hotel. When the elevator finally stopped, one side was a full glass view of the night that was falling over the capital of the United Kingdom, the endless horizon of lights twinkling in the midnight blue like the stars above us in the galaxies and the other led us from the elevator to a smaller square reception area that was totally bare apart from a thick fluffy snow white carpet, dark panelled wood, soft lighting and a single thick mahogany door with the words "Presidential Suite" in huge, outspoken, golden letters.

The bellhop handed Jasper a key card for the room and gave him the usual pep talk of "have a great stay" and "if you need _anything_" - although this was particularly in my direction as his refined accent laced around the words in the same tongue as ours but with a beautiful and graceful slant on it. He gave us a cheery farewell as the elevator doors closed on him and he returned to the lobby but not before I watched his facade fall and his face twisted with envy.

Jasper gave me a quick smile and took my hand, leading me towards the door. He placed the key card in the lock and pushed the door open.

Before me was the most beautiful room, I had ever seen. Like all the Cullen homes, light, pale colours and glass were optimum features in the palette of the room. The door opened into an almost completely white room, with a white fluffy carpet and a huge white "C" shaped sofa with huge black and red plush cushions, some larger than my torso. The walls were decorated with golden framed photographs of London, pictures of towering castles and palaces that had possibly existed when Carlisle was still in this beautiful city. There were images of unknown beautiful people lounging on picnic blankets in Hyde Park and those of Lord Nelson towering above London on Trafalgar Square as if he were truly on such a structure, watching over the city with shrewd and knowing eyes.

Directly in front of me was a huge window wall, exactly like those in the Cullen homes, which looked out onto London, those same urban stars shining up towards us in a fashion that was so beautiful, it was almost disorienting. Directly in front of us through the dark, however, I could make out Hyde Park stretching out in front of us, the green lush trees of home silent in their welcome to us. I gasped as I saw it, trying to take it all in.

A huge plasma screen television was built into a white dividing wall which led to a kitchen on our left, with proud chrome surfaces which would remain unused. There was also a bathroom with marble features that would remain unused. On the opposite end of the lounge, just on the other side of the dividing wall was the bedroom. As I took a look in, I saw this room had _two_ adjacent walls made purely of window. The bed was larger than I could have possibly imagined, so enticing and so beautiful with its pretty white covers and black pillows. On one of the walls was also a large TV which we probably would use even less than the bathroom.

Out into the night, I could make out the people on the streets of the city, laughing and giggling under the streetlights with their history and money, as deliriously happy as I was on this lush white carpet with the man I loved standing behind me. It was the most devastatingly beautiful place I had ever been. I _could _have watched time go by forever; watched the people enjoy their night of refinery or debauchery as they wished. But I was far too selfish for that.

So instead I turned to give my mate a kiss and the love deep enough to thank him for bringing me to such dazzling beautiful city, I was shocked to find him on one knee, holding out to me in a small velvet box, a gold engagement band with an equally dazzling diamond begging me to accept it.

* * *

**Another long Author's Note: DO YOU THINK SHE'LL SAY YES?!**

**WHAT DO YOU THINK SHE WILL SAY?! HOW HAPPY/EXCITED/TENSE/WANTINGTHENEXTCHAPTER ARE YOU?!  
**

**Would it make you happy if she said yes?  
**

**Okay, so I'm sorry I haven't posted for ages. I've had labyrinthitis and I'm still suffering with it and I've just been busy. I'll try so hard not to let it go on that long again guys. my Twitter is 'thedirtpolice' if you think I need a nudge on the next chapter or just leave me a review shouting at me if this happens again. I love you all so much!  
**

**Also, I'm British so I had to bring London into it, my dears.  
**

**Leave me a review telling me what you think about the proposal! :)  
**

**Missed you guys.  
**


	15. Chapter 16

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! Not even the crépe stall at Covent Garden. *sigh*.  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence_**

* * *

**Basically, my Betas are fabulous and I wish I could thank them everyday for their genius and friendship.**

**realjena, maddog20, The Original Bella and Mae are said Betas. I want to buy all of them a Jackson Rathbone always.**

* * *

_Just a small town boy and girl_

_living in a crazy world, tryna figure out what is and isn't true_

_and i don't try to hide my tears, my secrets or my deepest fears_

_through it all nobody gets me like you do_

**_- Taylor Swift, I'm Only Me When I'm With You_**

* * *

**IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER:**

_So instead I turned to give my mate a kiss and the love deep enough to thank him for bringing me to such dazzling beautiful city, I was shocked to find him on one knee, holding out to me in a small velvet box, a gold engagement band with an equally dazzling diamond begging me to accept it._

* * *

"Jasper, what are you doing?" I croaked. I felt like I was rooted and ensnared in this white carpet now, frozen in shock.

"Asking you to mar-"

"NO! No, no, no, don't say it!" I whined, turning back towards the window with my fingers in my ears in what would probably have been observed as a childish action. But I didn't care. This was exactly what I had feared since my mother had drilled a terror of marriage into me at the age of four.

I had principles on marriage and he knew it. He knew I wouldn't say yes. So why bother asking?

"Why can't I say it?!" I could hear in his voice that he was shocked and confused... and hurt? There seemed to be a twang of pain in my rejection. He was still down on one knee with the ring offered to me however; the expression on his face was one that was in such painful contrast to his actions, that I could feel my still heart almost breaking at the sight of him. In spite of this, I had my reason for saying no and he knew it.

Surprising me with this was not the best way to have dealt with this when he knew how I felt.

"You know how I feel! You already know all my views and thoughts and feelings on marriage! Look at my parents, look at the mess they made! I couldn't do that; I can't risk what we have!" I was edging on hysterical now. "Put that thing away!" I cried, storming out of the bedroom, into the lounge, throwing myself on the sofa, suddenly missing Rose and her hair and Emmett and his laugh.

Jasper came out of the bedroom ten minutes later than, as subdued as I'd ever seen him. He took a firm stance, crossing his arms stiffly and he glared in my direction with the effort of subduing his emotions. This was heart wrenching to see my mate in such pain. "Bella. You are not your parents."

I just stared defiantly at him. What did he know? He'd never met either of my parents properly. "I'm a product of them. So technically, I am my parents... dumbass." It was petty and childish, but I didn't know how to handle this situation without screaming, I was that angry and confused. More than that, I was torn and frustrated at the warring emotions and fears battling inside of me. I picked up one of the large black cushions and cradled it, needing the security.

"Bella, you have other factors that make you who you are, things are different for us, baby. For one, you're a vampire! Our relationships are totally different from the fragile ties of human relationships. You're going to live and be mine_ forever_, we're mated, baby!" He was pleading with me now and I hated him for being right. But I was so terrified of seeing our relationship suffer for the sake of a few vows and a pretty white dress, just as I felt it had destroyed my parents.

They should still be together, a tiny voice whispered in the back of my mind, as the cold hard truth turned around and stared at me in the face for the first time.

"Is this a becoming a nature versus nurture debate?" I murmured, my voice coming out muffled as I spoke into the cushion.

"No, this is about you needing to face up to the fact that situations in relationships are different, especially in vampire relationships," he told me, coming to sit by me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and kissing my cheek so softly that I felt I would've blushed had I been human. "Marriage isn't going to be a problem for us. I just want to stand up in front of our family and friends and declare our undying love for each other. I want you to sign your name as Mrs Jasper Whitlock and I want to cut a big fancy cake with you and dance to "I've Had the Time of My Life" with you in some ridiculously cheesy moment, while you're wearing a white dress and I can pretend I'm Patrick Swayze."

I laughed at that. But I could see where he was coming from and I knew he was right. There was nothing to fear from marriage, my mom was so different than me, she's so flighty and Jasper is my soulmate. Nothing could be more right than us, together, bonded as family in every single way possible. Jasper was mine.

"Well, when you ask me, which I presume you'll continue doing regardless of what I say now?" He nodded at this dutifully, the ring visible from his jeans pocket in its velvety case- there was no doubt that it was stunning. "When you ask me, make it perfect. Don't just ask me at a pretty place or because we're in a foreign city so we could force the moment to be right, do it because it seems like in that moment, we're infinite.

"Stop quoting Stephen Chbosky."

"Stop asking me to marry you on planes and in strange hotel rooms," I shot back, sticking my tongue out. He laughed at that too, warmly.

"Okay, I'll make it perfect, I promise. It'll be the right moment. No more fear from you and no more surprise proposals. It'll be so right, you'll know I'm going to do it and that it should be done and that if I haven't done it, make me watch the Real Housewives crap again. Can I take it as a maybe?" He stroked my hair back away from my face as he spoke, smiling, knowing that it was not a "no". He knew I wanted to marry him. But he also knew I didn't want to lose him.

I nodded and snuggled into his shoulder, kissing his neck as I did so, swinging my legs over his lap as he held me through the night.

"Hey, Jasper, do you mind if I just see if Vicki and Tamra made up over Brooks on the Real Housewives?"

The sunrise reigned over the city with an elegance I had never seen in the Pacific Northwest or even Arizona. It caressed the sky with its soft pinks and graceful oranges, a purple undertone embracing the blue across the nest we had made for ourselves in this majestic corner of the British Isles.

When the colours had finished sparkling on our skin and the cloud multiplied over the sky in one huge grey blanket, (something Jasper told me was incredibly typical of England) we got a call from the phone situated on one of the chrome surfaces in the kitchen. The receptionist we'd spoken to last night was on duty to invite Mr Jasper Whitlock and his "friend" to breakfast, something he politely declined with the mention that he and his "girlfriend" would be having breakfast out today.

Jasper instructed me to go and get changed after he had finished grumbling about our all night marathon of mediocre quality reality television. Jasper just lay there and grumbled about set up scenes and Rose infiltrating my taste in television.

I changed into a pair of pale blue skinny jeans and a tight fitting scarlet pullover and met Jasper in the lounge, to find him already changed seen as he'd gotten particularly bored last night. He led me downstairs via the magnificent lift and he strode through the throng of people with their refined accents, preened features and silky dresses in the lobby to request a taxi from another desperate looking receptionist who was wearing far too much makeup. This time, I did not have the effort to glare at the licentious girl, who could've only been a year or two older than I. She giggled at everything Jasper said, however, making herself appear not as innocent and charming, but rather as a silly schoolgirl. Jasper didn't take her on at all but merely ignored her. We went outside into the private crescent of the hotel that was cut away slightly from Park Lane to increase privacy, littered with limos, shrubbery and black cabs. I noticed the taxi we had ordered was already waiting for us with a cheeky looking middle aged man with dimples and wrinkles.

"Covent Garden, please," Jasper requested.

The cab driver garbled on about the congestion charge in a thick Cockney accent until he realised that Jasper and I were American at which point, he almost crashed several times out of pure excitement as he discussed Trans-Atlantic relations, talking about the president, Los Angeles and how he'd once taken a trip to New York City and that cab drivers over there were just not as friendly as English ones.

Thankfully, the journey was not long and while the driver had managed to cram in a lot of talking, the journey had been pleasant past the parks of London – nature buried into the heart of the urban city. In a way, it seemed a paradox of Forks, where there had been an attempt to bury the urban small town into the heart of nature, into the heart of sitka spruces and herds of deer roaming the forest.

When the cab stopped, and Jasper and I stepped out of the cab having handed the driver some money and a swift "thank you", Jasper led me a little way up a cobbled street and I was greeted by the most beautiful and strange sight I had ever seen.

I don't know what I expected to see when I thought of Covent Garden. I had never really heard of it before and I certainly, maybe out of ignorance - possibly thought it was a garden and trees and a little sophisticated pond, in a typical English fashion with park benches and people walking small poodle dogs. However, I was stunned by what I found.

It was so elegant and quirky, a building situated in the centre of the square with a massive cavity through it, as though it had once been a market. The only flora around Covent Garden were the plants, situated outside the restaurants and at the entrances to the markets. They created splashes of color that seemed to spill out of the plant pots and hanging baskets, which acted like a treat for the eyes. And there were stalls of delicate, eccentric things, such as crépe stalls and stalls selling keyrings, novelty beach towels – I found this most ironic considering the weather, novelty key rings, fruit and vegetables and flowers. One stall was totally dedicated to the sale of polished glass and woodwork. There were more pubs and restaurants than I had ever seen, all crammed into the one market hall and on the perimeter of the square. One was a restaurant wholly selling pancakes, one wholly selling French food and one fine dining cliché grill selling the "most premium steaks in the entire United Kingdom". That was not even the most intriguing thing about Covent Garden.

Out on the cobbled square surrounding the market hall, lined by such restaurants were street performers. Young, beautiful men with stubble and mahogany guitars busking and singing acoustic versions of well-known songs, a group of flighty slender young performers enacting Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in a tight circle of their own, surrounded by smiling onlookers, all having a fabulous time. There was a quartet of violinists playing classical music on the other side as we walked the perimeter of the market place, we walked past a stall of entirely drug paraphernalia that I gasped at and the cashier gave me a defensive passing glare. The place was just stunning and the most peculiar place I had ever been.

As we joined the small crowd (smaller than that around the young man busking and around the street theatre) surrounding the violinists, who were clearly skilled and passionate about music, Jasper wrapped his arms around me and I snuggled into his rugged chest. We were totally quiet as we stood in silence in this foreign city in a little bubble with around a dozen other people. Jasper was not as tense as he usually was around all these throbbing pulses and beating hearts as the music kneaded the knots out of his tight throat and whetted his thirst. We were content.

"Bella?" Jasper whispered.

"Yes?" Although, I had a hunch of what was coming.

"Marry me." His voice was sure this time, triumphant. But although we were content, it felt in my heart that this was a moment to enjoy our relationship, not a moment of which we could tell people we had gotten married, in a quirky square in a questionable dark eccentric corner of London watching four violinists play. Whilst it was dreamy and of the romantic era, it was not us.

"No," I replied with a small smile and a defiant voice. I was worried about his response but I felt him kiss my forehead and as he buried his face in my hair, I could feel his smile. He knew it was not far off.

After spending an afternoon touring the city of Westminster, totally content and happy, Jasper suggested we take a riverboat cruise down the Thames. I was shocked by the color of the water as we sauntered over the Westminster Bridge Road, taking in the sights of the London Eye.

"Hey, you think I could climb up that now I'm a vampire?" I asked Jasper, walking backwards, watching as people swerved around me spilling forward past Jasper like water. He laughed and nodded, the grin on his face breathtaking as he pulled me in for a long kiss, wrapping his arms around me, his hands at the small of my back and in my hair. Below us, lay the steady flow of the Thames, one of the most famous city rivers in the world. The color of it surprised me. I had always thought of London as a fairytale city and as much as it was, the color of the river was not a dazzling blue, but rather a strange sort of brown gray.

As we pulled away, I asked him, "Why's the river that color?"

"It's the sand on the bottom, baby. It's tidal so the silt at the bottom colors it, it's not really that dirty. The canals in Venice are much dirtier."

"You've been to Venice?" I questioned him, walking by his side now. I could see the docks on the river now by the embankment getting nearer, with quaint little river boats tied up on the dock, where tourists lined up like we were about to. Ready to get on and travel down the Thames, directly through the centre of the city of Westminster and London.

"Yeah! About ten years ago, Emmett, Carlisle and I went to Venice on a holiday while Fuckward went to Harvard to study Medicine. It was amazing and so cultural. It was hard being in a city so compact with everything and everyone so tight and close together but I call it experience." His smile was so very charming with a southern twang I could've swooned over as he took my hand and led me down the steps to the docks where he led me onto the riverboat. We sat outside on the deck of the ship next to each other, I on the side nearest to the water.

As we set off an older, delightful man took his position at the helm of the ship, facing us, giving a detailed tour of all the attractions as the boat passed the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It was beautiful and having been enthralled in English Literature from such a young age, it was like having Christmas. As we neared Tower Bridge and the Tower of London and the guide told us of its use as a prison, Jasper leaned over and whispered, "Look, Bella, you're going to have to pick now to marry me or you'll find that I will take you to that prison and keep you there until you say yes. This is silly. You know you want to be my wife."

I just stared at him. He knew this moment was the polar opposite of how I had said it would happen and he was starting to not take this seriously. And so, I would play dumb.

He winked at me and continued trying to persuade me. "You know you want to, babe." When I grimaced, teasing him, he laughed and held me as the boat turned round, knowing that while he was close, he had lost this round too.

By the time we'd gotten to Hyde Park later that evening, he had taken me to the exact kind of place I had thought Covent Garden was, but on a much larger scale. Even right down to the pond I had thought there was, the Serpentine was a large pond, almost sound sized body of water stretching across Hyde Park. Jasper asked me to marry him there too, probably enchanted by the picturesque magical views and the trees sprinkled around the park. It was almost as if we were home and in a fairytale. London was a fairytale city. I declined once again, feeling worse than I had each other time, knowing that it was something I really wanted. But it was still just not right.

So by the time we returned to the hotel, I felt almost exhausted emotionally from rejecting Jasper and him taking it so well each time in contrast to the beauty of the city we had explored so fully today. I had loved every moment of it. It occurred to me that London was somewhere I could've quite happily have lived with all of the family if suddenly we had to leave the United States. Except Alice, of course. And maybe even Tanya now too. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about her now that she had protected Alice and I hadn't had chance to hear if she had apologized to Rosalie for defending Alice.

We entered the room in silence and Jasper put on ESPN to catch a football game he had been planning on watching since last week. For the first time, I could feel sadness in his eyes and I was not quite sure if it was the pain of today hitting him or if he just missed Emmett and was feeling lonely watching this without someone else to shout obscenities at the television with.

He had had a truly horrible day in light of things, his mate declining his proposal of marriage _three _times in a foreign city. This vacation was supposed to be a getaway for us from all the trouble with Alice and I was hurting him. He needed some respite and I would give it to him.

I went into the bedroom and stripped, taking a moment to observe my naked body in the full length mirror on the wardrobe. My chestnut brown hair was tumbling down my chest over my breasts that had grown since I had become human. My eyes were a strange amber gold that could've passed easily for hazel and my lips were a crimson red, the color of a rose. My legs stretched out endlessly, powerful and elongated. I looked, well, _sexy_.

I walked purposefully over the carpet that embraced my feet as I took each step towards where Jasper sat totally unwitting in the lounge. When I reached the doorway, for that split second he failed to notice me, I saw him not as sad or lonely as I had since we had returned from the day or even as persuasive or charming but right now, in this moment in the navy blue of the sky pouring into evening with those same peppering of starry lights staring up and down at us from the sky and the ground, I knew that my mate was beautiful.

He came very close to me then, his golden eyes burning with a passion I had seen so many times and I bit my lip, feeling self-conscious, as his eyes roved my face with a hunger I returned just as powerfully.

In one swift movement, he lifted me from my feet and I wrapped my legs around his torso, feeling his abs on the most sensitive part of me where I was beginning to feel desperate for him. I ground into him and he carried me onto the bed on my back and placing my there while he quickly removed his pants, laying himself bare for me. He stared at me in the exact same way I stared at him. His eyes roved me and his hands became to roam me as he massaged my breasts lightly, showering my face with kisses.

Suddenly, he sheathed himself deep inside me, further than I had even thought possible, the sheer size of him more apparent as I moaned loudly.

"I love you, Bella," he purred into my ear, tracing a gentle path from my ear down my neck and across my collarbone as he continued to bury himself and pull away slowly, triggering me to moan, as he hit a spot deep inside me that created a resounding feeling of pleasure that vibrated across my senses.

"Jasper. Jasper, that's so good," I whimpered leaning up into his shoulder as he let out an animalistic growl, driving himself into me with a propelling force, plunging into my pussy with a speed that was only getting faster, causing a pleasure that was only getting stronger, causing a tense knot in my stomach that begged to be released. I could not have handled this when I was human, not this amount of pleasure, not this amount of love. My dream all that time ago could never have given this stunning moment the right amount. I was feeling so much and I so wanted him. I wanted to cum, I wanted him to come inside me, to mark me as much as he ever had. I needed him. It was pure anguish as my nails dug into his back urging him to fuck me harder, urging him to bring us to the overflow.

"Mine," I snarled at him, gritting my teeth, as he nipped at my neck, grunting as his hand slid between my legs, at first just brushing my most delicate parts. And then he began probing and rubbing, so close to where he was already pounding into me.

I could feel it then, and I could see it in his eyes. We were seconds away and we were flying, so very high above everyone and everything, one fucking flesh as much as we had ever been.

"Baby." That was his warning, his signal that it was coming, that he was coming.

It was ecstasy.

"Bella, will you marry me?" he grunted, his body tense as it prepared to propel us both over the edge.

One last slam. "Yes."

And we were there, his teeth coming down on my neck to mark me as his, forever. Until the end of time.

* * *

**Author's Note: HOW HAPPY ARE YOU THAT SHE FINALLY SAID YES?! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE RAUNCHY RECEPTIONIST? I CAN'T STOP TYPING IN CAPITALS I'M SO EXCITED.**

**Also, I just thought I'd get you guys a chapter out quickly because I left you for ages with no chapter. So here's my treat - a chapter out really fast! Are you guys pleased about that? How often do you want them in future just so I can set myself targets?  
**

**By the way, the hotel they're staying at is the Hilton Park Lane, London. Go check it out! You can see the Presidential Suite for yourself (I kinda improvised on it though)  
**

**Luce :)  
**


	16. Chapter 17

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! I don't even own a copy of American Pie. How unnatural is that?!  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence_**

* * *

**It's okay that I pretty much worship my Betas, right? They are absolute stars.  
**

**realjena, loverofmusic95, The Original Bella are said Betas. This week's prize to them all is Tom Felton. He's yummy.  
**

* * *

_These are the hands of fate,_

_you're my Achilles heel_

_This is the golden age of something good_

_And right and real_

_**- Taylor Swift, State of Grace**  
_

* * *

**IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER:**

_It was ecstasy._

_"Bella, will you marry me?" he grunted, his body tense as it prepared to propel us both over the edge._

_One last slam. "Yes."_

_And we were there, his teeth coming down on my neck to mark me as his, forever. Until the end of time._

* * *

We spent the few and final days of our trip touring England. Jasper had never ventured out of London and I'd never been before at all. If we were honest with ourselves, we were trying to put off returning, not wanting to give up our own little bubble of just the two of us.

We could not count on Alice's reaction to be good and since Jasper and I had become very suspicious of her, we could not count on her to be outwardly truthful. We were sure she'd try to plot something, to cause destruction.

And so, we toured parts of the United Kingdom. We went to the city of Bristol and roved over the local countryside to quaint little pubs, past farms and fields that stretched out for miles, where cows were sprinkled atop, mooing in the silence. This was where we hunted, burying the cattle underground so as not to draw attention to our presence.

We travelled north to the city of Manchester where the culture buzzed and the people milled. They chatted of soccer and Manchester United, the local entertainment, in their strange accents. "Manchester United", they said as they spilled around their statues dedicated to the Industrial Revolution. The moorland just outside the city, past the suburbs, was quite unlike anything I had seen before. It fell over hills (that by rights appeared mountainous) where they punctured the clouds, so close to the city which lay below, with their own Hilton hotel reaching up towards the clouds so close to the city which lay below, with their own Hilton hotel reaching up towards the clouds like a piece of Tetris. It was breathtaking.

This entire trip had been simply amazing! We had travelled to York, a city of history with the most beautiful architecture I had ever, their cathedral utterly fabulous. We had even been up into Scotland, straight over the Glenfinnan Viaduct, at which point I constantly squealed about it being the viaduct in the Harry Potter films. Jasper had been beside himself as I screeched about the Hogwarts Express to anyone who would listen.

Out of all we saw though, Manchester had been the place that captured my heart the most. I had never been to England before but I would be sure to visit again.

Eventually however, it was time to return. We agreed on the phone with Rose that we would go back to the Rainier house for a while, where we would meet Rosalie, Emmett, Peter and Charlotte and tell them the news. Peter could be heard chuckling in the background and saying, "oh, nothing," to those who questioned his glee.

After catching two planes and beginning the long car ride to the Rainier house, I was definitely ready to see my family again, especially Rose. The engagement ring weighed on my finger like a weight of anxiety in my stomach, excitement and nerves creating a stone that weighed me down, stopping me from engaging in a total flight of ecstasy. I worried of how Alice and Tanya would react and I had a nervous nagging feeling that the others might think it was too soon for Jasper and me to marry. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but it began to tear me up a little inside on the car journey. I said nothing to Jasper, forgetting he would know exactly how I was feeling.

"Bella, what's wrong with you, darlin'? Why're you so anxious?" he asked, driving effortlessly and glancing over at me.

Damn it! He can feel this shit, I thought, feeling a flash of annoyance at his gift.

"Just stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, like how're they gonna react to it. How do you know they won't think it's too soon?"

Even as I said it, it had sounded a little bit ridiculous.

"Bella, they love you. This isn't a condescending friend who judges you, they're not Alice. They're our family. They know we're soulmates and that I've wanted to ask you since the moment I fell in love with you; when you were spending all that time with Rose and Emmett and me in the house and running through rivers in 40 degrees in a bathing suit. They'll just be excited to go to the wedding and Peter will just want Rascal Flatts played. Remember, Peter already knows! We're twenty five percent there," he reminded me as he drove naturally, entering the three mile drive up to the Rainier drive.

I sighed. I had not even been thinking of that specifically. "And Alice?"

There was a pause then. Both of us wondered silently for a few moments before Jasper answered, sure as ever, firm and strong. My man. "Fuck her."

And that was how the plan to deal with it would go.

As the big house rose out of the trees and into our sights, I could already see Charlotte, Peter, Emmett and Rose waiting for us; Charlotte and Rose bouncing on the balls of their feet in excitement.

The car pulled up and I leapt out of the car in my eagerness, straight into the arms of Rose and Charlotte. "Oh my fucking god, we missed you!" and "You're never going out of the country ever again, ever!" was what they yelled at me, respectively.

When they released me, I was greeted with their warm grins. I could see Jasper high fiving Emmett and Peter grinning at me with a sneaky expression on his face. On instinct, I threw my left hand behind my back and took a few steps back, to meet Jasper.

"So, we have something to tell you guys!" I announced, practically shaking from excitement as I watched their expectant faces light up. Charlotte's eyes ran through the many possible outcomes, something she must have had to learn being Peter's mate, lover and best friend. She caught on seconds later, gasping and pointing towards my hand.

"What?! What is it?!" Rose asked, now totally confused as she shook her tousled mane from my face to Charlotte's anxiously; hating to be out of the loop and not knowing what was happening with her best friend.

"Well, when we were in London, I needed to ask Bella a very important question," Jasper teased, wrapping an arm around me, where my hand was still firmly behind my back. Charlotte was barely containing her squeals and Rose and Emmett caught on as they saw my arm locked behind my back.

"We got engaged!" I yelled, unable to contain myself.

The euphoria was so strong, I was sure it could've blocked out any amount of pain, even the prospect of Edward's revenge. Right now, it was perfection.

The day was spent catching up. The girls swooned over the romantic moments of our trip and gasped as I told them how many times I had said no. When we finally came to the tale of how he'd managed to propose, I could feel the embarrassment that wanted to flood my cheeks in vain. Emmett and Peter grinned slyly, giving Jasper fervent glances while Charlotte and Rose laughed girlish, graceful giggles.

They whooped at the optimum moment and we were pulled into more embraces and kisses and happy shouts from Emmett, where he stood shouting, "HE FINALLY DID IT! MY JASPER'S GONNA BECOME BELLA'S BITCH BY LAW!"

The final pair of arms to cradle me where the most familiar, the scent of my mate enveloping my soul as he whispered, "I love you", his breath tickling my ear slightly.

I could not wait to take his last name. I had already decided I would marry into the family as a Whitlock. I would join this family, not with Edward or Alice's name, but with Jasper's and I would take it proudly.

Peter and Charlotte returned to Texas only a few hours after we had arrived. They had stayed a little while longer to greet us but Peter said it was imperative that they returned today to investigate rumors of disturbing movements by Maria. Peter assured us that he did not think it would be anything to worry about as he knew she was working with accomplices and they were currently too busy squabbling to cause any trouble. However, he told us he had no idea what that particular trouble was and would be attempting to investigate that too. He and Charlotte were so blasé about the situation and so flippant in their attitude, we didn't let it worry us too much, especially seeing as how Charlotte was more interested in the state of their Texas house than the uncertain trouble. They promised us they would be back very soon.

They'd only been gone a few hours when I felt a very strange sense of impending doom, like it might be the last time I'd see them. I quickly brushed the thought away, –reasoning my feelings were merely because they had been around for so long. I had wanted them to come home the second Peter's Range Rover dropped out of sight from view down the slope of the drive, so of course I was a jittery mess a few hours later.

Jasper and Emmett went hunting gleefully, disappearing off into the night with Emmett whooping about, "the old ball and chain, boy!" They left Rose and I snuggled up on the sofa chatting about England, while the TV played, to an audience of no one, the American Pie film Emmett had left on.

"It's so beautiful, Bella! What a fabulous place to get engaged! How come you didn't call and tell me?" she squealed, still as excited as she had been when she had found out.

"I was just nervous," I laughed, watched as her eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas. "I thought somehow Alice would find out and kill me."

Rose cocked her head and looked so beautiful, I was almost jealous. "Bella, she can see into the future, you asshat! She'll already know!"

It took a few seconds and then I realized the crucial point I'd been missing. "Ohhhhh!" I laughed then, almost reprimanding myself for my stupid.

Rose grinned. "It doesn't look like she'll be planning the wedding if she's not got in contact all day, babe. But it's okay, because I'd kick her ass."

My heart warmed at her words. I could not believe she had ever intimidated me or scared me when I was younger. She was so easy to like.

"Well, she probably will want to arrange it and be chief bridesmaid anyway and totally ruin it. But the roles of wedding planner and chief bridesmaid have already been taken," I told her, wanting to see if she'd catch on.

She didn't. "By who?!" She looked offended.

"Rose," I whispered, leaning in. "By you, you douchebag!"

She screeched out her joy and hugged me, dancing around the living room and running off to call Esme. She left me in front of the TV, where I heard the words, "this one time at band camp..." and couldn't help settling into watching it. I could hear Rose shouting to Forks about rose bouquets and dress fittings for her and Charlotte. Esme agreed Charlotte would have to send her measurements to Rose.

And I couldn't help wondering what Charlotte and Peter would be faced with in Texas and if it would be more terrifying than Rose on a wedding planner rampage.

* * *

**A/N: What do you think is going to happen to Peter and Charlotte?!**

**Also, there genuinely is a Hilton hotel in Manchester (where I reside) shaped like a Tetris piece, it's awesome.**

**Also, I'm sorry this chapter is so short but I've got an outline, people. :)  
**

**REVIEW and tell me what you thought!**

**Also, if you have Twitter, please leave me a REVIEW with your username in it, so I can follow you? I really want to follow more people from the ff community :) thanks.**


	17. Chapter 18

Hey, guys!

So before you scroll down to ignore this author's note,** DON'T**. Because well, there is no chapter today. And let me explain why.

No, I've not given up on Jasper's Vote and I promise you that I will not.

However, I've developed something pretty nasty illness called **labyrinthitis** (AGAIN) which means I'm dizzy as fuck all the time and I throw up a LOT. Basically, I've been very ill for two months now and due to some ridiculous circumstances (doctors fucking with my pill doses and stuff), I'm not getting much better right now and it's hard to write when you're dizzy.

That hasn't really stopped me trying though. My main problem is that a friend of mine came to visit me and managed to break my Blackberry - don't even ask- and I've lost my WHOLE outline. I know. It's a fucking joke. It was saved in my "Notes" on there. Fixing it would cost more than buying a new one apparently so I've lost my fucking outline. I'm hoping it's buried somewhere in the 9000 emails in my hotmail or that I did the smart thing and saved it in a corner on my computer, but so far, I can't find it.

Now, I can kind of remember bits of it but it's all a little hazy. So my question to you is, what do you want me to do?

These are your options because I am a senior people pleaser. Obviously.

So, _a),_ **I could try and write the story out as I think it would've gone. I can't really remember it though so it could be REALLY bad. And I don't want to write you a bad story. It just depends if you trust me.**

_b)_ **I could just write you a load of fluff until I see if I find the outline and see where said fluff takes us.**

_c)_ **I could leave the story and write another Twilight pairing or a Harry Potter or whatever else you guys like.**

_d)_** YOU COULD TELL ME WHERE YOU WANT IT TO GO. Literally, just leave me a review or PM me and tell me where you WANT or THOUGHT the story was going. It's totally up to you guys. I don't want to let you down. Where do you want it to go? what do you want to happen to Alice and Victoria and Bella and everyone?**

So suggest me ideas!

Also, **if you do suggest an idea and I end up using it, I will credit you for it in a disclaimer in every chapter. Incentive. ;)**

I'm really sorry to let you all down like this but now, the power of where this story goes is totally in your hands. Unless you tell me to take power again.

Your decision. If you want the story to carry on, at least leave me a review and tell me what you want or PM me if you don't want to review.

Up to you.

JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT.

Okay, bye.

I love you all dearly.

Also, I highly recommend you watch Jenna Marbles.


	18. Update

**Good afternoon, beautiful people.**

Just a quick update so you know what I'm doing since it's easier just leaving you all another "chapter" rather than replying to reviews. Also, I presume there might be some people wondering what's going to happen who didn't review or guest reviewers who I couldn't reply to.

So, the general consensus is that you would like me to just get on with the story and try to remember my outline and to get on with it. Also, you all want me to get better.

So you know what I'm gonna do?

Yes, you've guessed it.** TEN POINTS.** I'm going to continue writing the story and see where it goes and try to remember my outline.

The characters are pretty strong, I think they're going where they want to go anyway ;)

I just wanted to tell you that and also, I wanted to thank you for being such a beautiful readership. Thank you so much for liking this story and for trusting me with it and for leaving me such lovely messages full of inspiration and support. So many of you just wanted me to get better too. And now I feel like we're friends, like internet friends who love Jasper a lot.

So, thank you. I won't' let you down. _And I'll give you all a naked Jasper in the next chapter._

Also, I'm **sorry** for posting another chapter with no chapter in it. It's not okay of me but I'm sure you all understand. I will be re-reading Jasper's Vote whilst I am ill and then I will be trying to write it whilst I am ill. I've got to warn you though, I may not post until I've stopped having to crawl to the bathroom, which I currently have to do.

While you're waiting, go watch some _**Jenna Marbles **_on Youtube, she's electric. Or Ellen. I watch Ellen a lot.

Or follow me on Twitter "_**thedirtpolice**_" to take a glimpse into my real life. Or PM me if you fancy a little chat since I'm lonely. I have no friends right now, except the sick bowl.

Okay, bye, sexy ladies.

I wonder if any people who read this are male. Or have a dog. If you have a dog, I want to know.


	19. Chapter 19

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! Not even health. I just sit around and watch Ellen all day.  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

******Thank you to maddog20 for being fabulous and engaging in my love of Christmas.  
**

******Also, happy birthday to the beautiful bloodofbeckie. I adore her.  
**

* * *

**Victoria's POV**

I lay sprawled on my front, cradling at the pillow underneath me, while the foreign brown hairs of the wig itched at my skin, the artificial scent of human shampoo filling my nostrils with an unwelcome scent as it lay askew on my head. He had stopped with the strong powerful rocking motion when he had reached to pull my "hair", growling _her _name and it had come off. His fantasy had collapsed and so he merely tossed me forward away from him and had left me. Just left me.

He had gone into the bathroom, where I could hear him showering, scrubbing at his area desperately, half sobbing, half growling as he tried desperately to clean me off him, to rid himself of me.

I closed my eyes, blocking the swirls of dust motes that hovered over me, observers to Edward's sickening fantasies. Had they watched as our relationship, already under pretense, mutilate into what it was now?

It had started off when I had called James' name the first time and he had called Bella's almost exactly at the same time. The shock of it left us silent for days as we both realized we were pretending.

The sex was fucking hot.

But he wasn't James. And I wasn't _her_.

The first time he'd bought me the wig, I'd tried to give in to his fantasy, to become her, to please him as I'd pleased James. I tried to be a weak little innocent girl, I'd called out his name in that monotone, fragile voice I remembered, imagining I was that pathetic.

He hadn't like that. He just left me that time.

Slowly, I learned, as he thrust himself inside me, to just stay quiet and allow him his delirium. Soon, he turned me over, refusing to look at my face as he made love to me, every thrust full of hatred.

I learned to ignore it and tell myself I did not need him. I was using him just as much as he used me. My James was gone and I would get my revenge. I would tear the honey haired one apart, but not before I tore Bella's doe eyes from her skull and made him watch as I pulled her beauty apart, destroyed the fire he'd ignited in her. They would feel my wrath. They would pay for what they'd done to my James, who had only done what had come naturally to him.

I would destroy her.

When I wasn't buried under Edward's delusion, pretending to be that weak little girl, I was with Maria, working out strategy and tactics, organizing spies and mobilizing the newborns. I was strong there and I watched Edward's admiring eyes appraising at me, as if he were proud, just as James had. I leered at his body as he taught newborns how to fight and we worked as a team. Maria's alliance with us was one of convenience, but as the friendship grew, we learnt she would give me the chance to play with my prey before I murdered Jasper and Bella. Her captain, Harry would bend their will and we could have a truly exciting time with them both. I could show the weak little bitch what it meant to feel pain like she had caused me.

But that night, as Edward had flipped me over, something inside me _did_ feel weak. Something inside me _did _feel little.

And it only stood to deepen the hate inside me for the girl he wished I was.

* * *

**A/N: I know this was short, it's just a little tidbit for you guys as a reward for being so patient and as a preview for the rest of the things to come, just so you have something while I write the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. I love you all!  
**

**Lucy  
**


	20. Chapter 20

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! I do have a boyfriend who recently got an iPhone 5 and I've already asked Siri if it loves me and shouted obscenities at it. I lead a gripping life.  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

******I got maddog20 on this because she's fabulous even though she had no idea who Joan Collins was.  
**

* * *

_So here's to the birthday boy who saved our lives.  
_

_**- Taylor Swift, Christmas Must Be Something More**_

* * *

**Bella's POV**

One dark day in late November, only a week after our return from London, Carlisle called to tell us that everyone, Alice and the Denalis included, would soon be moving to the Mount Rainier house. He wanted the whole family together. He explained to us that Peter had called to explain that on his and Charlotte's arrival in Texas, he had felt that something was not quite right and that the whole family should be together for protection. He had said he did not yet understand what the reason was but that it should become clearer to him within the next few days as further decisions were made by external forces.

It ruined the high we'd been on from our arrival home and the engagement. No one dared to question his ability and whilst I protested in secret, ("It's so unfair! I don't _want _Alice in my house! I just got engaged!"), all four of us prepared for the arrival of yet more vampires.

However, Esme had crumbled under her love of designing a home and her love for her children when I had moaned down the phone about space in the house, like a teenager begging for a new cell phone. She had agreed to renovate a grand house for the Denalis and possibly Alice to live in that she had built for Rose and Emmett after their first marriage. It was only a few miles from the Rainier home and had last been in use decades ago when the Olympic Coven had last resided at the Rainier home. I had known it was immature to plead and moan at her but I was desperate – I did not think I could take anymore of Alice and my instinct was telling me to be _very _wary.

Within the couple of weeks that it took for the move to be carried out, Esme, true to form, had brought the house to the height of grandeur with the help of Emmett, Eleazar and Jasper. The Denalis were only too happy to accept it as their base. It was easy to flit between the two homes and Esme had redesigned it with them in mind. Our overgrown log cabin with window walls was not quite to their liking and they preferred somewhere more traditional.

The morning Carlisle and Esme ghosted in the Mercedes up the drive, the fog clung to the trees like the itchy woolen sweaters I had worn in my human life on the drive to school as I cursed my Chevy's heater. I could not believe so much had changed since those days of being so subdued, being trapped in the confinements of never finding a place in life. But now, as a member of the "undead", as Emmett called it, I had found my position in the world, my position in a family. I had never been happier.

They stepped out of the car to greet us and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had not brought the pixie with them.

Curiosity got the better of me as Esme and Carlisle gave Rose a double hug. "Where's Alice?"

Esme and Carlisle exchanged a hesitant look. Carlisle was the one who spoke. "Alice will be joining us shortly, Bella. She needs to get her head around this and she wants a little space."

"That's insane! She knew this was happening- she foresaw it! I mean, I know she's bitter, but she knows we're soul-mates; it's not exactly new to her! What, does she think by doing this; she'll get Jasper's attention by having a tantrum?" I ranted before sniffing, pretending I could smell something. "Mmm, smells like desperation."

I knew the second I said it that I'd gone too far, but Carlisle and Esme started laughing, despite themselves and Esme gave me a warm hug, whispering, "congratulations, sweetie!" in my ear.

The Denalis were moving into their new house tomorrow and everyone presumed Alice would be staying with them and her dear friend, Tanya for now. She would not be missed.

The six of us gathered on the sofa for a family meeting. I crawled into Jasper's lap, wrapping my arms around his neck as he gave me a quick peck. Esme seemed to be internally bursting with pride, witnessing our love.

"So, how did it happen?!" Esme squealed, having only heard vague details through Carlisle on the phone. We went on to tell her what had happened and whilst we blushed as we got to the sex, she merely grinned, understanding that we had been making love, not "fucking".

When we had finished, Rosalie couldn't help herself. "I get to organize the wedding _and _I'm chief bridesmaid!" she cried, standing up and jumping up and down like a little kid at Christmas, clapping her hands. Esme leapt toward her, giving her a hug and congratulating her. She _truly _was over the moon for Rosalie.

"You'll help me, won't you?!" Rose yelled, unable to contain her excitement, squeezing Esme. My heart warmed watching my family's joy blossoming over the wedding, over the love that Jasper and I shared.

"Of course I will, sweetheart! As long as that's okay with Bella?" she asked, giving me a sidelong glance.

I stood up, feeling a slight tug on the pull in my stomach as I moved away from Jasper. I went to embrace Esme tightly. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Mom."

She gave me an incredibly tender look and in that moment, something seemed to pass between us. In that very moment, there was an indescribable cementing of the relationship between us, of mother and daughter. For the first time, I realized I'd been missing a mother figure, missing _Esme_. I'd been missing her so much.

"Now, we have something very important to discuss," Esme declared to the room, clapping her hands together. "You all need to be prepared to help out because it's imperative we get this right."

We all gave her a blank look, Emmett looking particularly dumbfounded as he tried to recall what it was that he was missing.

She paused, before giving us a look of pure shock. "_Christmas!_" she reminded us, giving us a look of disapproval at our forgetfulness. "You will all be involved in the decoration of this house! It's _perfect _for Christmas! We'll get a huge tree from out back and pull out all the tinsel. Emmett, I expect you to get out all the lights and check they're still working. Rose, I need you to find the star….", and with that preparations for Christmas began.

Carlisle could be found in one of the rooms, teasing fairy lights around closets when he wasn't at work, and Jasper and Emmett had been instructed to go and find the grandest, most beautiful fir tree that would fit inside the house and to bring it home immediately for decorating purposes.

The particular day this was supposed to happen however, Emmett took it upon himself to dress himself in sparkly tinsel. He wandered around the house whilst Carlisle was at work, clad in sparkling gold, shimmering silvers and every other color he'd found in the box that Rose had left in the living room.

I came into the room at the very moment that he began to belt out, "Now I ain't saying she a gold digger! But she ain't messing with no broke, broke!"

"Emmett, what are you doing?" I asked him incredulously as he danced around the box, wrapping himself in his tinsel boas, somewhat resembling a drag queen. "Do you need some lipstick or something?"

"Hey, little sister!" he said, bounding over to me, losing some of his green tinsel somewhere along the way. "I'm just practicing my gangster act. What do you think? Do I look like Kanye West?" He posed then, with his hands on his hips, giving me a stern look.

"No, but you do look a little like Joan Collins on a night out," I told him honestly, opening my Madison Morrissey book as he pouted. Jasper came downstairs just then and I lost my concentration. He was looking down at his sleeves, rolling them up, having not yet noticed Emmett's transformation. He was ready to go and bring back the bacon. Or tree, in this case. When he looked up, he burst out laughing at Emmett's attire.

"What the _hell _are you wearing, Emmett?!" he howled between guffaws, bent over double laughing.

"Hey! I'm being Kanye West! What do you think?" he repeated his pose, with a slight rehashing, crossing his arms this time.

"I think you look fabulous, Emmett. Just like him, in fact," he sniggered. "Come on, you. Let's go get this tree before Esme kills us." Emmett stomped out, picking up his dropped tinsel on the way and wrapping it around his neck with a dignified. Jasper winked at me and I blew him a kiss as he followed his brother.

In the back of my mind as I took in the book, settling into a story of teenagers in love, I could hear the faint murmurs of Rose humming to herself upstairs as she put some mistletoe up in her and her husband's room, and of Jasper and Emmett going deeper into the forest.

At first, I did not pay much attention to their chatter and Emmett's continued singing, until I heard him start rapping faintly in the distance.

"Ball so hard, motherfuckers wanna fine me! … And my tinsel, bitches!" I heard Emmett call.

"That shit is cray, Emmett. Truly cray," Jasper seemed to reply, sardonically.

"Ain't it, Jay?!" Emmett shot back. "Hey… that works!"

Jasper didn't reply to him.

The words afterwards were indistinguishable as they went out of range. A few minutes later, they seemed to come closer again however, just in time for Emmett to yell, "WAS GUCCI MY VAMPIRE?!"

"Doctors say I'm the illest, 'cause I'm suffering from realness!"

_Jasper seems to be getting into it, _I thought sarcastically as I listened to them rap their way through Jay Z and Kanye's iconic song and I wondered what was coming next.

I should've known.

"GOT MY VAMPIRES IN PARIS AND THEY GOING GORILLAS! HUH!"

Between them, it was a simultaneous effort of pure nonsense.

My first Christmas as a vampire was starting beautifully.

* * *

**Author's Note: Did you enjoy Vampires in Paris, guys?! And what do you think is going on with Alice? What do you think they should get Emmett for Christmas with his love of tinsel and sparkles? I know I promised naked Jasper but you will just have to wait because it seemed wrong in this chapter. Next time I promise. Emmett just got in my head with his tinsel and Christmas songs and I couldn't help myself! I surrender to the Cullen's Christmas spirit, okay?!  
**

**Sorry for the song insert at the top if you're not religious or Christian, I really hope it didn't offend anyone. Just my personal opinion and a beautiful song by Taylor Swift before she exploded and when she was still on the country side that I feel really represents this chapter.  
**

**Also, this was Beta'd pretty quickly by my dearest maddog20 but there may be a few mistakes. If it annoys you or you think you can help, email me at lucyrainbowweekend at googlemail dot com and offer your Beta'ing services if it interests you?  
**

**Also, it's not as long as usual because I'm STILL ILL and I'm just trying to slowly get back into writing.  
**

**MERRY ADVENT EVERYONE. I LOVE CHRISTMAS SO MUCH.  
**

**VAMPIRES IN PARIS is a much better version.  
**

**Lucy  
**


	21. Chapter 21

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! All I own is the Christmas tree that I decorated today. You guys know by now how fucking much I love tinsel.  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

**********The Betas are ********realjena, loverofmusic95, The Original Bella and FallenRebelAngel. I am in their eternal debt.**  


* * *

**Jasper's POV**

By the time we had returned back to the house with the tree over our shoulders, dusted in a frosting of snow, Bella had informed Rose of our singing sensations. They stood waiting for us in the living room in front of the blazing fire, wearing identical expressions of critical humor, their arms folded over their chests.

Emmett and I very purposely ignored their suggestive stances as we deliberately lifted the tree upright, allowing it to just graze the ceiling next to the fire, almost precariously. We put a great deal of effort into discussing how exactly to position it, while carefully avoiding Rose and Bella's eyes who were just watching us, trying to stifle their giggles.

"Rosalie, would you say that you ball so hard?" Bella asked Rosalie with a smirk, as I focused on arranging a branch slightly out of the way of the fire.

"I would say that I ball so hard that _vampires _want to fine me," Rose replied, nudging Bella, biting back a grin. In that moment, Emmett and I simultaneously gave them a very sheepish look causing the girls to burst into hysterics..

"Hey, Rose, I don't even know what that means!" Bella turned to Rose, blatantly referencing Blades of Glory.

Rose played along. "_No one _knows what that means! But it's provocative! It gets the people _going_!"

They giggled riotously again, holding their sides as Emmett and I just stood there, like deer caught in headlights.

After about thirty seconds of this taunting, Emmett requested, "Alright, alright, calm down, you two," with a slight pleading tone in his voice. He sounded a little like an embarrassed pre-teen as he begged; Emmett likes to be the one who teases, not the one who is subject to teasing. He went to the TV and flicked to an ice hockey game. "Anyway, the Predators are playing so I'm very busy at the minute. I do not have time to offer you my musical talents so bother Jasper instead."

Rose and Bella appeared to have run out of steam for their teasing and went to sit on the sofa perpendicular to Emmett's. I went to sit by Emmett, trying to zone out into the game a little, but the girls kept talking.

Bella was telling Rosalie what her Christmas had been like when she was human, sliding over her last Christmas when she was in a state of dark oblivion, an oblivion that was possibly our fault. I shook that thought off quickly; she was happier here, we were happier. And she was free to be who she was- strong, beautiful and independent.

"Do you like Christmas, Jasper?" Bella asked me with an expectant smile. Rose sniggered.

"Not really." At least I was honest.

"WHAT?! Why?!" Bella exploded, her mouth open in shock as she gazed at me. Rosalie's unapologetic giggles briefly tore her attention away from me but then she glanced back at me with a look that said she was almost personally insulted.

"I just don't see the point. Everyone gets excited for no reason." I knew she wouldn't take it well, her passion for the holiday season unable to be rivaled.

"Are you crazy?! What about the snow and the tree? The mistletoe and Santa and Jesus and...Jasper, are you INSANE?"

"It's all commercial, people fall into the trap of consumerism. I mean, I get celebrating Jesus' birth but I think sometimes we forget the true meaning of Christmas and we over exaggerate it all too. It gets silly."

"I don't! It's just an enjoyable time!" Bella shouted, coming to stand in front of me, blocking the television. "Besides, this is your first Christmas with me! You'll like it better now, won't you?"

"Bella, yes, of course I will. Just look at it from my point of view – I've lived through over one hundred and fifty Christmases. It sort of loses its magic after a while. I'm a guy too and I'm just not feeling it right now. But you know what I am feeling? Ice hockey and cuddles with you, if you want them," I told her, trying to look around her, but she just sidestepped in front of me.

"But how can you just shut yourself off to the Christmas spirit like that?! I think you need serious help, Jasper."

"Bella, I don't mean to be rude, but can you just _calm down_?You're taking this too far! It's just a misunderstanding. I love you very much but I just don't love Christmas, I'm sorry."

At that, she gave me a scathing glare and stormed upstairs. Rose and Emmett gave me sheepish looks.

This was our first real disagreement as a couple and while it didn't seem serious, I had no idea how to deal with it and if she would cool down. Being a  
foolish man, I decided to leave her, not realizing that leaving a woman to mull over a fight could be a huge mistake.

An hour later, I went upstairs to find Bella. After playing video games with Emmett all evening, a strong niggling worry slowly developed that I might have upset her more than I'd originally thought.

I had reached up my emotional sensor to our bedroom many times in the past hour to check on her but she didn't seem to be feeling anything. However, I feared she may have put her shield up to me. I could not tell. With every step I took towards our room, I worried of what I'd done to her.

Had I put our relationship at stake? I shouldn't have been so flippant with her, or so rude. She was more special to me than that. She was more special to me than anything, especially some stupid ice hockey game. I was just a little irritated at the time; I hadn't meant to be such a douchebag.

By the time I'd gotten to our door, I was in a very out of character state of panic, desperate to make it up to her. I threw open the door and I was surprised with what my eyes were greeted with.

The lights were out and the moonlight streamed in through both window walls. Backed up against one of them, stark naked except for a sash of scarlet tinsel and an askew Santa hat, was my Bella with her hand resting delicately on the curve of her hip. She was biting her lip and staring at me with those big "fuck me" doe eyes. She made no pretense that she was doing this in any sense of innocent and her body screamed sex at me through the bellowing silence.

I fell to my knees.

"Major, your fiancée would like permission to show you the true spirit of Christmas," she murmured, but her words were strong, even though they were quiet.

"Permission granted," I whispered, rising to my feet, but remaining frozen in place. My warrior instincts told me to wait, to let the battle play out, to see where she would take me now.

She moved lightly yet deliberately, as if she was walking on air, her grace unrivaled by anything I'd ever seen as her breasts bounced with the movement. She sank to her knees and looked up at me with daring eyes. She knew exactly what she was doing, as she unzipped my jeans and took as much of me as she could into her mouth, swirling her little pink tongue over the tip of my dick.

"Say Christmas is good," she commanded.

"It's rude to talk with your mouth full, soldier," I grunted, trying not to give anything away as the first sparks of pleasure spasmed through my body.

"Say that Christmas is the best season on the year. That you love all the goodwill and your fiancée naked."

"No," I growled through gritted teeth. But then she took me straight down her throat, burying me inside her mouth to the hilt, taking nearly all of me and I couldn't take it anymore. I moved so quickly, withdrawing from her hot little mouth before picking her off the ground in one swift movement. I wrapped her legs around my waist and slammed her up against the wall, she barely had time to realize what was happening before I sheathed myself deep within her in one fluid motion (I'd have to check for dents later). With her trapped against the wall, I ripped off the tinsel sash and nibbled at her neck. She moaned my name and scrambled to impale herself further on me.

"Oh, Jasper." Her pussy was so tight around me and I could feel every inch of her: her body right up against mine, her perky breasts up against my biceps.

"Now, this is how it's going to work, sweetie," I growled, quietly, pounding into her with as much force as I could manage, feeling how wet she was as I buried myself deep into her again. "You're going to moan about how good Christmas is and if you do exactly as I say, and cum when I tell you to, I'll rethink my views on the holidays, okay?"

To my surprise, she got a scheming look in her eye and her tone was teasing as she whispered, "no," daring to defy me while pinned against the wall by my body and me still buried inside her.

"Jasper, you're going to love Christmas because I'm going to show you that I can be in control too," she told me, that confidence she had grown over the past few months since I had fallen for her, dazzling me and I took a step back, releasing her from the wall, letting go of my instincts to dominate, to be in control.

She moved slowly at first, up and down at an agonizing pace on me as if it was her first time in the saddle. But then she grew bold, experienced, as she began bouncing on me. Her legs were wrapped around me as I clutched at her ass helping her thrust herself down me again and again, until I was completely embedded inside her. She threw her head back in her throes of passion, moaning her pleasure, calling my name.

"Merry fucking Christmas, Jasper Whitlock," she cursed as she bit her lip, moaning as she bounced on me. I grasped at her thighs and ass, trying to hold back my impending release as I trailed a line of love down her neck to between her breasts. She shivered and groaned, squeezing her arms around my neck and burying her head in my hair.

"Merry Christmas, Bella," I vowed, slamming into her one last time, feeling her body respond and with a loud moan, that sounded somewhere between a scream and a promise, she began her undoing. Her walls clamping down on my cock, causing me to orgasm too as she pulsated around me. There was something animal in the way I held her as she came with her body wrapped around mine as I tried to fight my weakening knees when I blew my load inside her.

My girl.

I would _definitely_ enjoy Christmas a lot more from now on.

* * *

**A/N: ****Did you enjoy the lemon, beautiful people? Don't worry, Alice and further drama will reappear next chapter, she's still batshit crazy.**

**How's Christmas decorating going? Have you all got your tree up? I did my Christmas shopping and everything's wrapped and under the tree.  
**

**Okay, so after I've written Jasper's Vote or maybe now, I am considering the idea of re-writing Twilight in the style of if Edward hadn't been changed and writing a Bella/Jasper story. Ideas? Would anyone be interested? Or is just a f**king stupid idea? Let me know.  
**

**Also, would you guys like me to get into a schedule of posting every Saturday?  
**

**Review :)  
**


	22. Chapter 22

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! Except a deep obsession with Naruto and Kiba shirtless. Google it. It's so good.  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

_I've got real big plans_

_and such bad thoughts._

_- **YouMeAtSix, The Consequence**_

* * *

**Alice's POV**

I ghosted through the forests of Canada like a panther, growling at the passing mountain lion as it slinked away into the shadows from me. It knew to stay away; it knew I was dangerous as hell, especially like this. I had sent my bags ahead of me to where he was staying with her. He took his hatred of losing Bella out on both Victoria and I but I knew how to handle him better. Victoria was a pathetic unstable woman who couldn't handle Edward's games. I could play Edward's games better than he could. I could see into the future, I knew what was coming. It was pathetic of him to think he could get the overhand on me. Currently, I needed him for the plan but when it came down to him, I would dispose of his weaknesses too. It would just be me and Jasper once I released my man from his brainwashing.

The dark clouds loomed over the pine trees, ironically foretelling the future of the two lovebirds, the newborn vampire and the "major" as he called himself. Their age difference was almost sickening to me.

Jasper and I were made for each other, there was no question. And I would do whatever I could to bring him back to me, if that meant bringing down Carlisle and Esme too. Poor Esme, poor innocent Esme. She had no idea of the true way this world worked. We vampire were too passionate in nature, passionate about everything to be consistently caring towards a group of creatures. Clans never worked and they never would. There is only room for mated pairs in this world.

I reached the house under the steely sky and heard the familiar noises of sex drifting through the open window. Victoria was crying dryly once again and Edward grunted furiously.

"Bella, yes! Don't stop!" he growled.

_Pathetic little boy, _I thought inwardly, grinning as I heard Victoria whimper. _Why are they all so obsessed with Bella and her doe eyes?_

As far as I was concerned, Victoria was due a good _spanking. _She had returned from a recent scouting mission with some very stimulating news, however, claiming that Bella and Esme had created an immortal child.

"I saw am immortal child!" she had shouted desperately as she returned from her scouting mission, midway through Edward beginning his assault upon her. "Please, release me! I have new information on them!The mother and that_ bitch. _ I'm not useless! Please trust me!"

I wasn't sure whether or not it was merely an attempt to get us to allow her to murder Bella or to so we went to Volterra. I didn't care either way. I would be getting my revenge.

I opened the door and entered the gloomy, dark house strutting up the stairs, glancing to where my bags were strewn across the hall. I entered Edward's bedroom, covered with memoirs of Bella and took in the scene before me, unsurprised. Edward had Victoria bent over the purple bed sheets, identical to Bella's room and was fucking her senselessly with a raw animalistic desire, clutching the wig on her head. The wallpaper was covered in Edward's handwriting, apparently quotes from Bella's mouth. He had robbed Charlie and stolen family photographs, a few of her clothes. Not a lot but quite enough for his sick little fantasy.

He wrapped his hands around Victoria's neck then, upon seeing me enter and bit down hard, roaring his orgasm. Victoria merely bawled as he went over the cliff. Soon, a silence fell over the room as Edward regained his energy apart from the sound of Victoria's tragic sniffles.

I stood in the doorway and waited for Edward to look up at me, giving me permission to intrude on his twisted imagination. Until then, I smirked at how weak he'd become in an attempt to rekindle his love with Bella. He had simply lost his mind. He looked at me then.

"Hello, Alice."

"Good morning, Edward. Nice to see you giving the little _bitch _a treat," I said cuttingly. Victoria looked up at me to growl her anger, but her pathetic sniveling made it sound more like a whine.

I snickered. "Are you ready then?"

"Yes, just let me get dressed," he responded, catching me looking at him, hearing my thoughts. "Stop looking at me, _sister_."

"Sorry, I haven't had sex in a really long time and watching you give her everything makes me so _hot_," I lilted, giving him a winning smile.

"You'll get your turn if this all goes to plan, baby," he promised, passing me and breathing sweet air over my lips. He was still naked.

He went into another room to get dressed and I stayed in the doorway, watching Victoria curl up and cry on the floor. "Wish you hadn't messed with this now, sweetie? Funny how there's a hierarchy even among those with the same purpose, isn't it?"

She ignored me, probably hoping I'd get bored. I wouldn't.

"You know, I see where your life goes, Victoria. You spend your eternity being Edward's plaything and eventually he'll get bored of using you to take out his sexual frustration and he'll start using you to take out his pain. But you're immortal, sweetie, you can't die. So you spend the rest of forever as what you are now – _nothing_," I told her, laughing. She certainly was fun to play with as I saw her future flash to her attempting to attack me and then fall away to her choosing to be nothing, once again. She had made her life like this. She shouldn't have _fucked _with us and decided she could use us. She wanted to kill Bella and we wanted to play with her a little so really our purposes were very different in a way. Edward thought he'd keep her forever, but I'd make sure she died eventually.

I kept this quiet around him, pretending I just wanted her to suffer for what she'd done to him and that I wanted Jasper back. Now, when he was around, I filled my head with images of him fucking me so he believed he was the one in control. He wasn't.

This was a party and I was the host. Bella was the cake and that bitch would burn. Victoria and Edward were just balloons I would burst along the way.

He returned then, fully dressed.

"Are we leaving that little bitch here?" I asked him, staring into his golden eyes and watching lust fog them as I filled my mind with images of me bouncing on his little dick.

"Of course we are. She's simply a liability. She cannot be trusted to make a good impression on the Volturi. She's so mentally unstable, Jane would take her as a toy immediately and I want to play with her myself," he explained, giving a cold look at the naked feeble woman curled up on the ground with her flaming hair around her like a halo. "She will remain here and do as she's told. Besides, she has nowhere else to go."

We laughed then and went downstairs. We packed our bags into Edward's new Volvo and headed for Sea-Tac airport. We board a plane to New York, the sexual tension between us alive like a wild fire, turned on by the idea of Bella and Jasper paying for what they'd done to us but also being ours again.

From JFK airport, we headed to Rome and then took a car to Volterra. We arrived at the vampire's lair, Victoria's words resounding in our minds.

"_I saw an immortal child! Please, release me! I have new information on them! The mother and that _bitch._ I'm not useless! Please trust me!"_

We entered gravely to the reception area where a human sat.

"Can I help you?" she asked sweetly, leering at Edward.

"We have to report a crime," I told her gravely.

* * *

**Author's Note: SO THEY'VE GONE TO THE VOLTURI! What do you think Aro will do?! What do you think Victoria's going to do while she's alone in that house? Any thoughts on her? Victim or villain?**

**SO JASPER'S VOTE IS BACK, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Because I got labyrinthitis again.**

**Also, while I'm at it. If you've ever watched or read Naruto, I've begun a Gaara and OC love story called A Gaara Love Story: The Shukaku and the Sharingan - I know. I'm so original. Go to my profile and read it? :) **

**Until next time, sexy ladies. In the mean time, REVIEW! I love hearing from you guys as always.  
**


	23. Chapter 23

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing! As a follow on from the previous disclaimer, I just found out today what "hentai" is. 0.o  
_**

******_Rated 'M' for sexual situations and lemons, very bad language and eventual violence._**

* * *

_I don't wanna spend my life, jaded, waiting  
_

_To wake up one day and find_

_that I let all these years go by_

_wasted._

_- **Wasted, Carrie Underwood**_

* * *

**Victoria's POV**

I lay on the ground after I had been disposed of so carelessly by Edward and that ugly one with the sharp cruel features. She came over so often implying that she would happily take my place. However, had she known how it felt to be tortured, used and, dare I say it... raped?

It had started out as an outlet for our anger and our passion and slowly it began to destroy me inside, destroy any fragment of stability I had left in my body. I spent my days in a whirlwind of chaos and pain. I began to feel it what was I deserved as I wallowed in the darkness, watching the iron in the skies fade to black, as my life had.

Fading to black.

I lay among a pool of my hairs, the wig next to me of that_ girl_.

Would I sit here and allow Edward to ruin me? Could I allow that to happen? Didn't I have any power left?

And then it came to me - the only thing I could do.

I had one last resort. The chances of me being killed were dreadfully high but I had no doubt that no existence at all would be better than being Edward's bitch forever.

It was a case of what I cared for more. And that last shred of self-respect and self-preservation won out.

Before I knew it, I was packing up a few clothes hurriedly. I knew they would be gone for days but the anxiety scalded my bones like hot water. Burns like that never leave a person. You remain scarred for eternity.

I went to the fireplace where the embers of a dying blaze remained, there for Edward's pathetic show and disposed of that terrible wig that had been the bane of my existence for so long.

I slipped out of the dead house with the shadows of a smile on my face, feeling exhilarated, free for the first time since James had been killed.

_James. What would he have wanted_? I thought to myself as the wind allowed my hair to fan out. But James wasn't here. He had left me in this miserable world because of his thrill for the chase.

It was up to me now.

I set off running then, tearing through the forest, one with the world again. I'd always been faster, faster than any other vampire I'd ever met.

Speed and evasion. That was me. I had a talent for it the same way that psycho bitch's was seeing the future.

_Well, see this, bitch._

At some point, I must've crossed over the Canadian border into the US but it never occurred to me when. I was too busy enjoying the wind in my hair, the knowledge that my clothes were not about to ripped off my body at any second, I would not be... entered within the next few days. I could just exist.

My life's purpose had become distorted in the infected wounds of other people's actions and betrayals. I no longer knew what I wanted in the long term but for now this was exactly what I wanted.

I had always been one for revenge, exacting its sweet poison with perfect precision. But what does one do when there is a need for such revenge on both sides?

I had already decided in my heart.

**Alice's POV**

Aro took Edward's hand, seeing what I could not, watching every one of his memories play out in his head.

"I see," he muttered finally, a deadly look in his eye.

"So you see, sir, we have from a _reliable _source that they've created _one _of those," I said sadly, pain engulfing my tone. I had already "seen" it that he would take Edward's hand and not mine.

"Whilst I argue that your source is not so reliable and would be extremely prone to lying, I cannot see that being your fault. That's all you have to go on," he said, smiling sweetly. "I know you two would never harm a fly. With this in mind, we must also consider that it must have been a terrible hardship for you both to suffer seeing your mates 'trade off' as it were to each other. It speaks a lot for their personalities that they would do such a thing to the both of you, such lovely _people._ It wouldn't surprise me if perhaps they had ventured into the... for want of a better word, darkness. We must protect our world from this danger. They are out of control."

We waited for his verdict silently. I had already seen Victoria leave the house. Where she was headed yet, I was unsure since she herself hadn't fully made up her mind. This was crucial to us.

"Serious action must be taken."

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey, hot stuff. Fancy seeing you here again today. ;)**

**ANYWAY, WHAT DO YOU THINK VICTORIA'S UP TO?! WHAT ABOUT THE VOLTURI?! WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY'RE GONNA DO? Omg, the terror. But seriously, you know me. As a writer, I am not good for the reader's nerves.**

**If you're a Naruto fan, check out my GaaraxOC fic in My Stories on my profile. It's fun like sexy time, I swear.**

**Also, I'm not going to be posting everyday, don't get that idea into your beautiful little minds. Just consider this a present for my absence and for sticking around. If you're reading this, thank you. **

**Think of this as Part 2 of Jasper's Vote: the prologue.**

**I will see you all next week for a cheeky update.**

**I love each and everyone one of you. **

**Lucy **


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